


Your Love Saved Me

by CallMeNettie



Category: Hey Arnold!
Genre: Drama & Romance, F/M, Friendship, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Love, Rumors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2019-01-29 10:56:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 42,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12629472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallMeNettie/pseuds/CallMeNettie
Summary: A burst appendix sends Arnold to the hospital in critical condition forcing Helga to show her true feelings for him.  For a while life is good for Helga but then an ugly rumor rears it's head causing her home life to spiral out of control.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The question of how would Helga react to seeing Arnold critically ill in the hospital and how would that affect their relationship was brought up to me a while back. I thought about it for a bit and came up with this story. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

Part 1

She woke up early after spending an uncomfortable night tossing and turning in the heat. Still only mid-June and the city was experiencing record temperatures. It was for that reason the gang had made plans to spend the day at the river as a means of escape. She rolls out of bed not exactly thrilled at the thought of spending the next eight or so hours watching Lila try to gain Arnold’s attentions in that “Oh so sickly sweet” manner she had. The only thing that seemed to make it bearable was that by all observations it didn’t look like Arnold even noticed. 

“Ah, Arnold,” she mused, “ever clueless, ever lost when it came to handling females.” She guessed that in a way it was a good thing. At least this way she could, technically, still have a shot. 

Walking to her dresser she pulls out the old, faded bikini from last summer and puts it on then walks over to her full-length mirror and examines what she sees. She’s grown a bit since last summer and probably should get a suit in a bigger size but there was no time for that now, she’d just have to be careful when she jumped into the water. Wouldn’t want anything to pop out. Over the suit she threw on a sundress and slipped into a pair of sandals.

She stole a piece of fruit from Miriam’s smoothie stash and texted Phoebe to let her know she was on her way and headed for her car. 

She was one of the first of the gang to get her own car. Being the daughter of the biggest electronics distributor in all of Hillwood had its perks. Big Bob had wanted her to get some flashy, sporty car but that wasn’t her style so she, instead, settled on a used, pink (what else) Volkswagon. It may have been used but it was a classic 1968 VW Bug. When she took it to be painted her dad balked at the color but as with all his tirades, she just let it slide off her back.

She arrived at Phoebe’s house a few minutes later to find her already sitting on the steps waiting. They loaded an ice chest that was filled with food and drinks and a bag filled with towels and lotion and such and headed out.

“So,” Helga started, “You think Miss “Oh So Perfect” is going to show up?

“Well,” Phoebe replied, careful of her response, “I don’t really see why she wouldn’t, Helga. Like it or not she is a part of the group.”

Helga’s hands gripped the steering wheel a little harder. “Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s just that I hate how she’s always sniffing around Arnold like she’s trying to find some secret passage way into his head where she can set up camp. It’s embarrassing really, poor Football Head doesn’t even realize she’s doing it.”

“You know, you can always speak up yourself and let Arnold know how you feel about him instead of automatically hating any girl that shows him interest.”

Helga flinched a bit as Phoebe’s words hit home. Without having a valid reason as to why she didn’t let Arnold know how she felt she just turned up the radio and drove on in silence.

 

Part 2

 

After close to 30 minutes of driving the girls came up to the gang’s secret turn-off and the road soon after went from asphalt to dirt. Another ten minutes and Arnold’s Packard came in to view. Parked directly in front of it was Rhonda’s BMW. They parked and headed up the trail for the short walk to their swimming spot. It was a nice, out of the way refuge and the gang was always amazed at how no one else has ever seemed to stumble across it. The girls walked through a heavily treed area that opened up to a small, secluded beach with the perfect swimming hole. As you made your way into the water it gradually deepened before dropping off into untold depths. A short swim out was a large rock that was perfect for cannon balls and backward flips. The side of the rock facing across river was steep and slick but the side facing their little bit of heaven had enough hand holes so you could climb to the flat top and get an unobstructed view in both directions. If you just wanted to sit on the rock and not get wet there was a series of naturally formed rocks that made a trail which led from the shore to the plateau of the rock. 

The girls made their way down to the beach laying out their stuff among everyone else’s. When Gerald saw Phoebe he came running out of the water and gave her a wet hug and lingering kiss.

“It’s about time you got here my Cherie.” He said with a wave of his eyebrows.

“Well, good things are worth the wait, right?” She teased and the two took off for the water. 

Helga stood and watched as Harold jumped off the rock yelling, “CANNON BALLLL!” barely missing Sid as he landed. 

She saw Lila and Rhonda stretched out on inflatable mats taking in the sun but there was no sign of Arnold. Scanning the beach she saw him back up by the tree line sitting in the shade. He looked off, like something was bothering him. As she walked up to him, Phoebe’s words from earlier rang through her head. She gave their conversation a moment’s thought before pushing it aside. 

“What’s up with you Hair Boy,” she said as she approached. “Why aren’t you off swimming with Lila?”

He looked up at her, confused. “Why would I be swimming with Lila?”

“Well, aren’t you two sort of a ‘thing’?”

“What? Who said that? Why does everybody keep talking about me and Lila like we’re some sort of burgeoning couple?”

“Well, aren’t you?” Helga held her breath afraid to hear his response.

“No, geeze, how many time do I have to tell people that!”

Relieved Helga smiles internally. “Well, the man doth protest too much methinks.” She says trying to sound nonchalant. 

“Huh? What does that even mean?”

“It’s Shakespeare Football Head. Never mind, but really, why aren’t you swimming with everyone else?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t really been feeling very good the last couple of days and I just don’t feel like getting in the water is all.”

“Oh. Ok, well if that’s all then I guess I’ll leave you to your thoughts.” With heart lifted from his little confession of NOT liking Lila she practically skipped down to the water.

He watched her as she walked away taking in the changes that have been developing over the last few years. Yes, she was still the same gruff, boisterous tomboy she was back at PS 118 but she was growing a softer side, “soft” he thinks, “I bet her lips are soft.” Plus, she was becoming more and more beautiful each day it seemed. Too bad she didn’t like him like him, he thought.

Part 3

A couple of days later Helga had driven over to City Park and was sitting at the bench under her favorite tree working on some poems that had been running through her head. Whenever she was having trouble with her writing she’d come to the park and sit under the big tree and people watch until inspiration came. Today she had been sitting there for the past couple of hours to no avail, the words just didn’t want to come. She was packing up to leave when she saw Arnold slowly walking towards the park’s exit. He still wasn’t feeling well and it was a struggle for him to walk. When he saw her sitting on the bench he made his way over to her.

“Hi Helga.” He said as he took a seat beside her, leaning back and rubbing his face. 

“Hey Football Head.” She replied, heart secretly doing backflips in her chest. She looked him over closely. He looked like something had chewed him up and spit him out. “Dude, you look like shit, what’s up?”

He took a deep breath then let it out. “I don’t know, I’m still not feeling very well. I think it’s my stomach.”

Helga scooted back a bit away from him, “In that case, keep your distance Hair Boy, I don’t need to be catching anything you’ve got roaming around in that body of yours!”

“Don’t worry Helga, I’m sure you’re perfectly safe.” He knew it was futile to ask, but he did anyway. “You didn’t happen to bring your car did you? I could really use a ride back to the boarding house.”

“Ohhhh no, Football Head, you’re not getting your sicko germs all over my car! Besides, I’m not headed straight home, I have some stops to make.” The last part was a lie but she really didn’t want to get sick or have to deal with a sick Arnold. 

A little hurt by her refusal to help, but chalking it up to Helga being Helga he told her to just forget about it and took off to slowly walk home.

“I am really sorry about it.” She said as she headed for her car and took off leaving him to make his way to the park exit. Driving away she felt a pang of guilt and cursed herself for not helping him out.

A few minutes later Arnold was just about to reach the park’s exit when a sharp pain hit his stomach like a bolt of lightning. He fell to the ground writhing in pain. A mom who had been watching her two kids play on some swings came running up to him followed by a jogger who had witnessed him go down.

“Young man,” the mom said as she gently tapped his cheek, “Can you hear me? Young man, answer me if you can hear me!”

The jogger quickly grabbed his cell phone and dialed 911.

A few minutes later Helga is driving home as she sees the flashing lights of an ambulance charging down on her. She pulls over to the side of the road grumbling, “All right, all right, keep your shorts on, geeze.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, lets get in to the meat of the story now. Enjoy...............

Part 1

Evening had finally come. Helga put her day at the park out of her mind and was mindlessly flipping through the channels on the TV when the house phone rang. Ignoring it Helga kept flipping the channels.

“Will somebody get that already!” Big Bob bellowed.

”Keep your shirt on, I’ll get it! Crimeny!” Helga begrudgingly yelled.

When she picked up the phone she heard her best friend on the other end. It sounded like she had been crying. She wondered if she and Gerald had gotten into a fight or something.

“Hello, Helga?”

“Oh hey Pheebs, what’s up? You sound upset or something.”

“Oh Helga, it’s just awful. It’s Arnold, you have to get the hospital, NOW! I’m afraid he’s not doing well at all.”

“Arnold!” her mind screamed. “Phoebe, what’s wrong, what’s wrong with Arnold!”

“I’m afraid it’s his appendix.”

Helga thought back to the last two days, how he had been complaining about not feeling well for a while, and how she had just left him in the park earlier today. All he had asked for was a ride, why hadn’t she just given him a ride, if she had maybe she’d have seen just how sick he really was and could have taken him to the hospital before things got so worse. “Because you’re a selfish bitch!” she scolded herself. 

“….Helga! Helga, are you listening to me?”

“I’m on my way.” She shouted and dropped the phone without taking the time to hang up. 

She grabbed her backpack before getting into her car and driving as if Arnold’s life depended on it. “Hang in there Football Head.” She thought as she sped through town. 

Finding the first available parking spot she tore out of the car and headed towards the emergency room entrance. 

She ran to the admittance desk, frantically trying to get any information she could about Arnold. 

“Calm down, please.” The admitting nurse said. “Now, slow down and tell me again who it is you’re looking for.”

“Arnold! I’m looking for Arnold, I’ve got to see Arnold!”

In a calming voice the nurse tried once again to get the needed information out of Helga. “You need to take a deep breath and tell me who it is you’re looking for again.”

Gathering her hysterics under control she took a deep breath and said very slowly, “Arnold, I’m looking for Arnold – P – Shortman.”

The nurse typed the name into her computer and said, “Ahh, here we go, Arnold Shortman. Are you family?” the nursed asked.

“What? No, we’re not related, he’s my friend. My good friend! My very, very good friend.”

Well, without family consent I can’t give you any information on him but I can give you his room number. He’s over in the main wing room 418.”

Part 2

A good fifteen minutes of going down one wrong hallway after another passes before she finally finds Arnold’s room. There’s a small window in the door just above the handle. She peeks through it to see an empty bed. Beyond that a curtain is drawn around the second one. She can see the fuzzy silhouettes of people as they move about on the other side. She dries the tears from her face and takes a deep breath, gathering the courage to step inside. She quietly enters the room and takes in the scene before her.

Her eyes immediately are drawn to Arnold first. He lays sleeping, oblivious to everything around him. She looks at the IV bag and the long thin tube that trails to the top of his hand, the needle melts into his flesh, providing him with the necessary medicine to keep him alive. On his finger is a plastic clip which keeps track of his oxygen levels. There’s an automatic blood pressure cuff that goes off at regular intervals. There are multiple wires hooked up to a heart monitor. The wires trail down and disappear under the sheets which cover him. She watches the rhythm of his heart and thanks God for the steady beat. His face is ashen and he lays motionless in the bed. She longs to reach out and stroke his cheek. 

Her vision pans out now to the people surrounding him. At the head of the bed stand his grandparents, the worry and sorrow on their faces making them look every bit of their 80 plus years. His grandfather holds his grandmother close to him as she quietly cries into his chest. Next to them is his best friend Gerald, whose eyes go back and forth between the monitors and the sleeping boy. Holding on to Gerald is his girlfriend Phoebe. She wipes a continual stream of tears from her cheeks. At the foot of the bed stand Rhonda and Sid. Rhonda is typing into her phone, most likely filling the rest of the gang in on what’s going on. In a chair next to Rhonda is Harold, standing behind the chair is Stinky. Not being able to look at his friend Harold just stares at his folded hands that lay in his lap. 

The last person in line is Lila. She sits on the bed close to Arnold, holding his hand tightly in hers. The sight of Lila sitting Oh so closely to the sleeping boy was just what Helga needed to snap her out of her paralysis. A soft growl emitted from her chest, causing Phoebe to turn around and finally notice her.

“Helga,” she said relieved that her friend had finally arrived at the hospital. “You made it.”

Without saying a word Helga slowly stalked over to the bed and grabbed Lila, pushing her away. She took ahold of Arnold’s hand and stared into his closed eyes, willing them to open. 

Angry Lila spoke up, “If you wanted to see Arnold so badly I’m oh so sure you could have just asked.”

Helga kept her eyes on Arnold as she addressed Lila mockingly, “and I’m oh so sure you can go take a flying fu…”

“Helga!” Phoebe yelled at her friend. “I know you’re upset but please try to stay calm.”

“What gives you the right to treat Lila like that Pataki?” Gerald questioned.

“It’s none of your concern Tall Hair Boy.” Helga said, surprising herself over how steady her voice was.

“Of course it’s MY business Helga, Arnold is my best friend!”

Phoebe puts her hand on Gerald’s shoulder to calm him and whispers to him to go easy on Helga and give her time to process what has happened. 

Helga looks to Arnold’s grandfather for answers and he tells her what she already knows, that Arnold had been feeling sick for the last few days but couldn’t really pinpoint what was wrong. What she didn’t know was that it had turned out to be an inflamed appendix and the day Helga left him at the park it had finally burst. The infection had spread and he is going to need to be on strong antibiotics until they can get the infection under control. 

Helga looks back to Arnold and in a quiet voice says, “It’s my fault.”

“What are you talking about Pataki, how are you taking the blame for a burst appendix?” Gerald said, still annoyed at Helga for the way she treated Lila. 

“That day, in the park, I saw Arnold. He said he wasn’t feeling well and he asked me for a ride home. I was too busy to help him. No, that’s a lie. I was too selfish to take the time to help him and I left him there to walk back to the boarding house.”

“Really, Helga,” Rhonda said, “How were you supposed to know how sick Arnold was? It wasn’t your fault that his appendix burst.”

“No! You don’t get it, none of you get it. If I had given him a ride I would have seen. I would have seen how sick he was and taken him directly to the emergency room. They could have discovered it was his appendix and removed it before it burst and sent that ……… that poison through his body.”

At this point a nurse comes in telling everyone that visiting hours are over and that only one person can stay with him. Everyone else would have to leave. 

Phil had made the decision to stay and everyone else reluctantly started to make their way to the door. Everyone, that is, but Helga.

“I’m not leaving.”

“Young lady….” The nurse starts before being cut off.

“I said I’m not leaving!”

Phoebe walks over to Helga and places a hand on her shoulder. “Come on Helga, it’s time to go.”

Almost too quietly Helga says, “No. One person can be with him. I am going to be that person. I will not leave his side. You all go home and get some rest. My place is here.”

Hearing the resolve in her voice Arnold’s grandparents agree to let Helga be the one to keep watch and they usher the others out of the room.

Alone now with Arnold Helga sits, holding onto his hand. She’s afraid to let go, afraid to break the connection. Afraid that if she does he will slip into a dark abyss, unable to make his way back out to conscientiousness. 

 

Part 3

Sometime in the night Helga’s body gave out and she succumbed to sleep. When the night nurse came in to check on Arnold he found her sitting in the chair that Harold had previously vacated, her upper body fallen forward onto the bed, Arnold’s hand still in hers. The nurse gently touches Helga’s shoulder startling her awake.

Momentarily confused as to where she is she looks around. The room is dark save for the night light over his bed and the various monitors that blink and beep as they keep sentinel over Arnold’s vital signs. 

“You know,” the nurse starts, “You can use that empty bed over there if you want. As long as we don’t need it for a patient it’s up for grabs. I think it’d be much more comfortable.”

Helga looks at the bed then back towards Arnold. “No, no that’s ok, I’m fine right here.”

“Ok, if you’re sure.” The nurse says as he finishes checking Arnold’s vitals.

The next morning Helga awakes to no changes from the day before. She doesn’t know how long she’ll have to stay there so she calls Phoebe to ask her to bring her a change of clothes and some supplies.

“How’s he doing?” Phoebe asks.

“There’s no change. He just lays there, sleeping.”

“This could take a while Helga, those are some pretty strong antibiotics they have running through his veins. You could be there for a few days.”

“I don’t care if I have to stay for a few years Phoebe, I’m not leaving his side.”

“Ok, suit yourself. I’ll try to get there as soon as I can but it may not be for a while. I have this family thing I can’t get out of.”

“Fine, just get here when you can, I can smell my own breath and I need my toothbrush!”

The day starts to pass with no sign of Phoebe. Visitors trail in and out all day long, and all day long Helga just sits, holding Arnold’s hand and staring, willing his eyes to open. “Well,” she thinks to herself, “I guess the cats out of the bag now. No more being able to hide my feelings after this.” 

Its late afternoon before the last visitor takes their leave, finally leaving Helga alone again with Arnold. She pulls a small journal from her backpack. It’s the latest of many that she’s written over the years. Diaries and journals filled with poems and sonnets, all with one theme, her love for the boy with the football shaped head. She had read to him last night after they were alone and she now opens the journal and continues. She reads each one page by page until her eyelids grow heavy. Before realizing it her head drops and the book falls open into her lap. She sleeps in deep exhaustion and doesn’t hear the door as it opens. Gerald comes walking in, carrying the supplies Helga had asked Phoebe to drop off. He walks over to the bed and sees Helga curled up in the chair, head fallen back in what looks like a most uncomfortable position. He notices the book in her lap and with curiosity guiding him he picks it up and starts to read. His eyes grow wide as they scan over the words meticulously written in the same pink ink that Helga is known for using. He reads her deepest secrets in disbelief. He slowly sits next to Arnold and as he does so Arnold starts to stir and mumbles something under his breath.

“What was that you said, buddy?” Gerald asks hoping to prompt him awake.

Arnold stirs once again and says a little louder, “Helga.”

Gerald looks at his friend with wide eyes, then slowly turns his gaze towards Helga in disbelief. Helga starts to stir and, not wanting to be caught reading her journal he quickly places it back on to her lap. 

The weight of the journal being dropped in her lap awakens her with a start. Her legs slide off the chair causing the journal to fall to the floor. Groggy she looks at Gerald then at the fallen book. She quickly picks it up holding it to her chest.

“Geraldo! W-what are you doing here? Where’s Pheebs?”

“It turned out she couldn’t get away today after all so she sent me to bring you your stuff.” He continued looking at her with disbelieving eyes.

His stare made her nervous and she hated it when people made her feel ill at ease. Sliding her journal into the backpack that was on the floor besides her she took the duffel bag Gerald was holding out to her.

“Uh, thanks, I, uh, appreciate it. You got time to stay for a bit?”

Embarrassed and dying to know what Phoebe knew about these new revelations, he made an excuse to leave. Helga thanked him once again as he quickly made his exit.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own no rights to anything regarding Hey Arnold, Keenan and Kel or Are You Afraid of the Dark.

Part 1

By the third day the nursing staff had grown accustomed to the blonde teenager that wouldn’t leave her “boyfriend’s” bedside. She had tried in vain to explain that they weren’t a couple, that they were just really good friends and how she felt it was her duty to watch over him since it was her fault he was in there as it was. 

By the afternoon Helga was perched in her usual spot in the chair by Arnold’s bed. She had positioned it so that the first thing he’d see when he finally awoke would be her. There was a commotion at the door as the small band of friends came to check on how things were going. 

As they started to gather into their usual spots Helga got up to use the bathroom. No sooner had she closed the bathroom door when Lila slyly slid into the chair that Helga had just vacated.

Phoebe looked at her in slight alarm. “Um Lila, I don’t know if you should be sitting there. That’s Helga’s spot.”

“Don’t worry, Phoebe, I’m oh so sure Helga won’t mind me sitting here. Besides, it is a free country after all.”

Gerald gave the bathroom door a nervous glance and thought to himself, “Oh boy, this is going to be good.” 

After a bit Helga comes out of the bathroom and sees a familiar red haired head sticking up from the back of the chair she was sitting in. Silently she walks over to stand as close to Lila as she can get, her hands clenched in fury. “Lila,” she says through gritted teeth, her fists curling and uncurling, “You need to move yourself out of that chair right now before I make you move.”

Lila starts to say some oh so witty retort when all of a sudden there’s movement from the bed. Once again, like he did the day before Arnold starts to move about and speak, only this time his voice is a bit louder and stronger. 

“Helga?”

The question hangs in the air, the room is silent, eyes shift from Arnold to Helga to Lila. Lila looks at Arnold with hurt in her eyes and gives up.

Getting up out of the chair she says to Helga, “I’m oh so sure Arnold would appreciate seeing you sitting here when he wakes up.”

Knowing the heartbreak of realizing that that which you want the most will never be, she places a hand on Lila’s shoulder and whispers a quiet thank you to her.

The rest of the afternoon passes with no further incident. As the last guest leaves for the night Helga does her best to freshen up then resumes her place by Arnold’s side. She gets out her journal and continues to read from where she left off until sleep finally overcomes her once again.

 

Part 2

Early on the fourth morning of her vigil she has once again fallen asleep while sitting in the chair, feet planted on the floor, upper body resting on the bed, head laying on her folded arms. The sun begins its slow assent up the window filling the room with its light. Arnold begins to shift again only this time he lifts his hand, placing it on Helga’s head. As he opens his eyes he finds that he is stroking someone’s hair. He looks to find Helga passed out half on, half off the bed he’s lying on. The room spins slightly and he has to shield his eyes as he looks towards the now sun drenched window. He gently strokes Helga’s hair as he calls her name.

“Helga? Helga, wake up.”

The gentle sound of his voice startles her from her dreamless sleep and she bolts upright making Arnold flinch.

“What, who, what’s wrong?” She realizes that Arnold is finally awake.

“Football Head!” she yells and throws herself at him, pushing him deeper into the mattress as she hugs him and covers his face in kisses.

“Whoa, whoa, hold on.” He can’t help but giggle at her enthusiasm. He pushes her off him and slowly tries to sit up.

“Hold on Football Head, let me put the bed up for you.” Helga finds the remote and raises the head of the bed slightly so Arnold is in a more upright position.

Confused as to how he ended up in the hospital Arnold asked Helga just what had happened. Helga told him the whole story, starting from their meeting in the park and ending with his waking up just now but leaving out how she spent the last four days sitting watch by his bedside. He gently runs his fingers over the spot where his incision is and starts to remember that day in the park. 

“So you see, it’s my fault. You’re in here because of me.”

“Um, no, I’m pretty sure I’m in here because my appendix burst. You not giving me a ride made no difference in that.”

She tried to convince him that if she had taken him to the hospital sooner he wouldn’t have gotten so sick but he wouldn’t listen. 

“Well no matter what you think Bucko I will do everything in my power to make sure you have everything you need as you recover.”

“Ok, Helga, if that makes you feel better you can be my own personal nurse.”

Smiling, Helga takes out her cell phone and calls Phoebe letting her know that she can spread the word that Arnoldo is alive and kicking.

Hearing the news Gerald picked Phoebe up and they headed over to the hospital. As they drove he took the opportunity to tell Phoebe about Helga’s journal and about Arnold calling out Helga’s name then too. 

“I just can’t believe it, Arnold and Pataki. It goes against everything I’ve known since we were three-years-old! How does something like this even happen?”

“Who knows?” Phoebe said, “Love works in mysterious ways.”

The word love in reference to Helga and his best friend makes him shiver. “But it’s Hel-ga!”

They’ve reached the hospital now and find a parking spot. Getting out of the car the two walk to Arnold’s room. Just before entering Phoebe stops and turns Gerald towards her.

“Now listen, Gerald, you can’t go getting involved in this. This is between the two of them. Who knows if Arnold even realizes he was saying Helga’s name as he was unconscious. They need to figure things out on their own.”

“Aww, Phoebe, but It’s Helga!”

“Promise me, not one word!”

Unable to go against her wishes he reluctantly agrees. “Ok, not one word.”

 

Part 3

As dinner rolled around the last of the guests bid Arnold and Helga their adieu and the two found themselves alone. The quiet of the room began to overtake them and they were each beginning to feel a bit awkward. In an attempt to lighten the air Arnold turned on the television. Helga moved the chair closer to the bed and propped her feet up onto the mattress.

“That doesn’t look too comfortable.” Arnold observed. He scooted over making room for her and patted the bed next to him. “Come on, we can share the bed.”

Helga thought for a moment then decided what the heck and, being careful of his incision, sat next to him. They flipped through the channels trying to find something they both liked. They settled on an old episode of “Keenan and Kel” and sat contentedly as they joked about the characters and the dumb situations they were always getting into.

After a while the smell of dinner came wafting into the room as the night nurse brought Arnold a tray. The smell of the food made Helga’s stomach grumble and she realized that she hadn’t had a proper meal in almost four days. 

As the nurse set the tray down he looked at Helga as she looked longingly at Arnold’s food and he gave her a smile.

“Don’t worry little lady, figuring you weren’t going anywhere I took the liberty of snagging an extra dinner for you too.” He then wheeled over the bed tray from the unused side of the room and gave Helga her own dinner.

Touched that he would think of her like that she gave him a big smile and a heartfelt thanks.

“No worries,” he said, “I figured after four days of not moving from your boyfriend’s side you’ve earned a free meal or two.”

At the word boyfriend Helga once again tried to explain that they were not a couple but the nurse just smiled and left the room nodding his head and giving her a knowing, “Mmm-hmm.”

Arnold looked at Helga confused. “What did he mean by four days? Have you been here the whole time I was out of it?”

“Don’t be ridiculous Football Head, what makes you think I’d sit here for four days as if I had nothing better to do?”

“Well, why would he say something like that if it weren’t true?”

“How should I know? Maybe he fancies himself some great matchmaker or something. Now shut up and eat your dinner.”

Arnold doesn’t believe she’s telling the truth but gives her a “Whatever you say Helga” and starts picking at his food.

The strong medicine that is being pumped through Arnold’s veins is hard on his system and leaves him with not much of an appetite. He picks at his food cutting off a piece and examining it.

“What is this stuff supposed to even be?” He questions as he gives it a sniff.

“I think it’s some sort of meatloaf,” Helga says through a full mouth. “It’s really not that bad.”

“Well I think I’ll take a pass on this one. You can have mine if you want.”

“Not until you’ve at least tried to eat half of everything. You’re the one that needs to regain your strength you know. Do you want to be stuck in here forever?”

Thinking that if being there meant more time with Helga he almost said yes but instead said, “Oh, hell no!”

“Ok then. Now be a good boy and open up.” At this Helga cuts off a piece of mystery meatloaf and places it in Arnold’s mouth. “I want that chewed and swallowed, no spitting it in your napkin,” she jokes.

Dinner passes with Helga feeding first one bite for Arnold, then two for herself until both trays are empty. Pushing the cluttered bed trays aside they turn their attention back to the forgotten television. By now one of Helga’s favorite shows from her childhood is on and the two sit contentedly watching “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” 

As they watch, their eyelids begin to get heavy and they drift off into a deep sleep. Helga leaning into Arnold and Arnold’s cheek resting on her head as his arms wrap around her and there they stay until the night nurse comes back in to make his late night rounds.

He sees the sleeping couple and chuckles thinking to himself, “Heh, not a couple. Riiight.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that on occasion Gertie refers to Helga as Eleanor but I thought I’d mix it up in this chapter just for shits and giggles. I hope you enjoy………

Part 1

Two more days pass before Arnold is finally strong enough to go home. He will still need to take it slow for about a month in order to give his surgery site time to heal but at least he’s free of IV’s and monitors and hospital beds. His grandparents are there to discharge him and as they drive up to the boarding house he sees Helga sitting, waiting on the steps. 

He walks up to her and he awkwardly runs a hand through his hair as he greets her. “Hi.” Is all he can come up with to say. 

“Hi yourself Football Head, welcome home.”

“Thanks. I’m glad to see you here, I was afraid that once I was released you would go back on your word and not come around to take care of me anymore.”

“Hey, if I, Helga G. Pataki am anything, I’m a girl of my word. I said I was going to watch after you and I meant it.”

Arnold smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Well, thank you Helga G. Pataki, I appreciate it.”

Shrugging her shoulder to make his hand fall away she turns and says, “Yeah, yeah, now come inside before your weak little body gives out and I have to carry you.”

“Whatever you say Helga.”

She leads the way then steps aside as she enters the boarding house. As soon as Arnold steps in he’s startled by a loud burst of voices and people shouting, “WELCOME HOME!”

The boarding house is filled with all his friends as well as boarding house residents and people from the neighborhood. There is a large “Welcome Home Arnold” banner across one wall and balloons and streamers which hang from the ceiling. He’s touched by the thought put forth by everyone and is truly glad to be home. 

There is a large buffet set out on the dining room table with food donated by Mr. Green, and flowers from Mrs. Vitello’s flower shop. People gather around him shaking his hand and patting him on the back.   
After a few minutes the effort of standing so long begins to show and Helga breaks it up and leads Arnold over to the couch.

“Would you like something to eat?” she asks Arnold.

“Well, my stomach still isn’t at 100% but I could try to eat a little something.”

At that Helga makes her way over to the buffet where Harold is filling a plate full of different meats.

“Oh I just love meat!” He exclaims.

“Out of my way Pink Boy!” Helga shouts as she pushes by him with Arnold’s plate.

“Heeey,” Harold whined, “Who died and made you the boss of the food?”

There is a noticeable group cringe at the word “die”. Everyone had had the same thought. Arnold’s bout with appendicitis had brought him closer to death than anyone was willing to admit. Harold immediately felt bad for what he said and moved aside to let Helga finish filling Arnold’s plate.

She silently walks it over to Arnold. Lila is sitting next to him but gets up as soon she sees Helga approach and tells Arnold she thinks she’ll go see what Rhonda and Nadine are doing.

Arnold thinks her actions are strange. “What’s with her?” He asks Helga, “One second we’re in the middle of a nice conversation and the next she’s running off to talk to Nadine and Rhonda.”

“Who knows Football Head. I wouldn’t worry about it. I wasn’t sure what you’d feel like eating so I just got a little bit of everything.”

“He thanks her as he takes the plate of food.”

Off in the distance Gerald watches what has transpired with interest and muses, “Score one for Helga.” 

Part 2

It’s early evening before the last of the guests leave and the tenants have retired to their rooms. Helga and Arnold sit alone on the couch. 

Helga looks at the dark circles that have formed around Arnold’s eyes. “You look tired. Perhaps a big party wasn’t such a good idea on your first night back.”

“No,” He assures Helga, “I’m glad everyone was here, it was really nice to come home to all my friends and family. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”

Helga picks up her cell phone and checks the time. “Actually, it’s time for you to take your next dose of medicine and get up to bed. While you get ready I’ll straighten this mess up then get your medicine and meet you upstairs.”

He started to say he wasn’t tired but he saw that look on her face that said it was no use to argue and he headed off to take a quick shower.

It had been a week since he had a chance to have a real shower and not just a mediocre sponge bath and the water felt good as it cascaded down his body. He stood under the spray thinking about the last few days, starting with how he felt when he first woke up to find Helga keeping watch at his bedside. He remembered the silken feel of her hair as he gently ran his fingers through it, while nudging her awake. She said she didn’t spend the previous four days there but considering how she didn’t leave once he had finally woken up he thought she may have lied. He thought about the last two days, their sharing meals and watching TV together while lounging on his bed. How anytime he needed anything, no matter how small she’d jump up and get it for him without complaint. Without complaint. When was the last time Helga did anything for anybody without complaining? 

He thought about the odd exchange between Helga and Lila when she had brought him his food. He wondered what that was all about. He hoped she didn’t still think he had any feelings for Lila. Feelings, he thought. Just what were his feelings? He knew that over the years he had started to form this odd attraction to Helga even though all she ever did was give him grief. It got to the point where he was starting to wonder if he was becoming some sort of masochist, gaining pleasure in her taunts. Or was it just the fact that he was starting to fall for the girl herself. She did have her good side. She didn’t show it much but when she did it always touched him and brought a smile to his face. 

Stepping out of the shower he dried off and pulled on an old pair of sweats and a ratty t-shirt. He made his way to his room where Helga was waiting with his medicine. 

“Took you long enough Football Head,” she chided. 

“I’m sorry, it just felt so good to wash all that hospital stink off of me. I guess I lost track of time.”

“Well…I’ll let it slide this time.” 

She scrutinizes his face, his eyes follow hers. “When did she get those big, beautiful blue eyes? How have I not noticed them before?” 

Helga mistook his look of longing as illness and put her hand to his forehead. 

“You don’t have a fever but you sure don’t look well. You’d better lie down.” 

He considers saying “Only if you’ll lay next to me.” But thinks better of it and just crawls into bed.

She sits down next to him and hands him a pill and a glass of water. “Here,” her voice softens, “Take this then get some sleep.” She finds it hard to pull her gaze away from his. It takes every ounce of her being not to reach out and brush his cheek with her fingertips. Shaking herself back to reality she starts to stand.

“Wait, where are you going so fast?” He says as he grabs her arm to stop her from leaving. “We’ve barely had a chance to have any time alone. You’re staying over, right?”

Wanting desperately to say yes she shakes her head no. “Ummm, you’re home now, you have your grandparents and the boarders to help you with anything you need during the night. I think you’ll be ok.”

“But your promise, remember, you’re Helga G. Pataki, a woman of her word. You promised you’d stay by me, being at my beck and call.” 

“Yes, Football Head, I did but I hardly think it’s necessary for me to sleep here when your family can take care of the night shift. I promise I will be here first thing in the morning. If I’m not here when you wake up you can text me and I’ll come over as soon as I can. Ok?”

Reluctantly he agrees and watches as she opens the door. She turns, giving him a sweet smile and shuts the door behind her. Turning off the light he rolls over, visions of those beautiful blue eyes watch him as he drifts off to sleep.

 

Part 3

She had set her phone for 6:00. She wanted to be sure to be at the boarding house before he woke up. Jumping in the shower she quickly washes then steps out to dry off. Wrapping a towel around her head she smooths on her favorite Jasmine and honey lotion and gets dressed in her usual pair of faded shorts and a soft pink Tee of some sort. She pulls the towel off her head and runs her fingers through her long hair and decides to let it air dry. She eats a hasty bowl of cereal and relieves Miriam’s smoothie stash of a banana. She grabs her car keys and backpack and heads out the door slamming it behind her startling her dad. Without opening his eyes he yells, “Is that you Miriam?” Helga’s mom mumbles “Ok, B, I’m up, I’m up.” And without waking they both roll over and continue their slumber. 

She’s at his house by 6:45. Luckily she catches Ernie as he’s heading off to work and he lets her in. She spies Arnold’s grandmother in the kitchen and stops by to say good morning. His grandmother is happy to see her and gives her a big smile.

“Ahhh, Lady Jane, you have arrived. Prince Tarzan is still upstairs sleeping. Go on up but take heed, there are dangers in the jungle, you must be aware at all times.”

“Ooooo-kay,” Helga replies as she backs out of the kitchen. “Tarzan and Jane?” She thinks to herself, “That’s a new one.”

She climbs the stairs to Arnold’s room and cracks open the door. Not wanting to disturb him she walks over to his night stand and grabs a small remote. With luck she presses the correct button on the first try and a small couch unfolds from a wall on the other side of his room. She quietly walks over to it and takes a seat. She watches him for a while then pulls out her current journal that she’s been working on and starts writing about watching her beloved as he slumbers, unaware of the torture it brings her to be so close yet so far from his sleeping form. 

She continues to wait and write until he starts to stir. She gets up and sits on the bed next to him. He rolls towards her and opens his eyes. Once he gets her in focus he gives her a sleepy smile. He looks at her through half closed eyelids and reaches up to touch her face. 

“You’re here, just like you said you’d be.”

“Of course Arnoldo, where else would I be?”

He yawns and stretches and it kills her to think about how cute he is when he first wakes up.

“Ok Bucko, first things first, time for your medicine.” She hands him a pill and some water and watches as he empties the glass before handing it back.

With the first matter of business out of the way she moves on to phase two. Breakfast.

“Now, you have two choices for breakfast. I can either bring you a tray up to your room or we can go downstairs and you can eat in the kitchen but I have to warn you. If you choose the latter be prepared. Your grandmother has taken to calling us Tarzan and Jane for some reason.”

Hearing that makes Arnold flinch. “Ohhh, it’s that bad huh? Well, when she gets in one of these little tirades like this there’s really no avoiding it. We’ll just have to endure it until it passes. I hope you don’t mind.”

Helga says through a chuckle, “Hair Boy, she’s your grandmother, what else can I do but love her and put up with it.”

She immediately regrets what she’s just said. How could she be so stupid? For her to say she loved his grandmother was as close to a confession of love to him as she could get! Oh, God, she hoped he didn’t catch the slip. 

“What did she just say?” He thinks to himself. “Did she just say she loved a member of my family? If that’s true, then what does that say about how she feels towards me?”

Deciding to ignore it for now and not make the situation any more awkward than it already was Arnold chose to have breakfast downstairs with the other tenants. Relieved Helga agreed with his choice and they make their way to the kitchen in silence.

The rest of the day passed without incident. The two spent their time between things like watching TV, playing board games, listening to music. 

And so passed the next few weeks. Every so often someone would stop by to visit Arnold and see how he was doing while filling the two in on the happenings around town. 

Arnold’s grandmother still referred to them as Tarzan and Jane and life became routine.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a little chapter to keep the story rolling. Think of this chapter as that part of the roller coaster where you’re leaned back in the cart, slowly inching to the top of the first drop. You hold on in anticipation waiting for the many loops and drops that follow.

Part 1

By mid-July Arnold was feeling much better and was beginning to get restless and wanted out of the boarding house. Helga had promised him that if after his routine check-up the doctor says it’s okay, he could start getting out more. 

She arrived at his house early as usual and let herself into his room. She had moved from waiting on the couch to sitting on his bed so she could better watch him as he slept. Every so often he would mumble in his sleep, occasionally calling out her name as he did when he was in the hospital. One morning it was Lila’s name he had called out instead of hers. She was furious at first but when the name was soon followed by a resounding “No!” she calmed down and was curious as to what that particular dream was all about.

He had become accustomed to waking up and seeing her face first thing and sometimes would reach up to caress her cheek. He loved how the smile it elicited from her gave him a quick glimpse of her inner self before she threw up her protective wall and moved away from his touch.

On this morning, however, they had an appointment to keep so instead of the usual pleasantries she was all business as she burst into his room.

“Okay Football Head, rise and shine, we’ve got business to take care of.”

The sound of Helga’s voice pulls Arnold from his dreams, dropping him off back into reality and he awakens with a start.

“Huh? What? Wh-where am I? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong Arnoldo, it’s just getting late is all and you have your doctor’s appointment, remember, Doi.”

He lays back rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Geeze Helga, you could be a little gentle in your approach you know.”

“There’s no time for pleasantries Bucko, now get up. Come on, go, go, go!”

“Okay, okay! sheesh.”

“I’ll go get your breakfast started, don’t take too long in the bathroom.”

They part ways in the hallway, Arnold headed to the bathroom and Helga to the kitchen. As she enters, Arnold’s grandmother is at the stove making pancakes for the tenants. She gives Helga a smile and flips a pancake onto a plate.

“Ahhh, Lady Jane, I take it Tarzan has awoken from his slumber?”

“Yes, Grandma.” Helga answers. “Just a reminder, I’m taking him to his doctor’s appointment this morning and if he gives the okay Arnold…..I mean Tarzan and I may go see what’s happening around town.”

“That’s fine.” Gertie says as she flips another pancake to the growing stack. 

Not long after Arnold joins them and they eat a hasty breakfast before heading out.

Arnold stands at the top of the steps and lets the early sun wash over him. He stretches and savors the feeling of freedom after being cooped up inside for a month. 

 

Part 2

Arnold hums a little tune as they head for the exit of the medical building. He was given the all clear and is anxious to finally get back to what little bit of summer he has left. Once out the doors he grabs Helga by the waist, picking her up and swinging her around in a circle. 

“Free at last, I’m free at last!” He yells as he spins. 

Laughing at his enthusiasm she playfully hits at his shoulders as he spins her. “Put me down Football Head! Are you crazy, people are staring!”

“I don’t care, let them stare all they want. I’m finally freeeee!” 

After another spin he puts her down and they stand for a minute looking into each other’s laughing eyes. 

“Well, Hair Boy, it’s your day, what do you feel like doing first?”

He thinks for a minute then says, “A picnic! Let’s grab some food and have a picnic down at the river. Just you and me. We can stretch our legs and enjoy the sun. It’ll be fun!”

Thinking that that’s a wonderful idea she agrees and they head to the store to get provisions for a picnic lunch. 

While standing in line with a shopping basket filled with deli sandwiches and sodas and snacks they run in to Rhonda and Nadine.

“Sooo,” Rhonda says as she eyes the two friends, “They finally let you out, huh Arnold?” 

“Yep!” He smiles. 

“Looks like you’re getting ready for a picnic or something. Where’re you guys headed?

Before he can stop her Helga tells the girls about their plans to head to the river, thwarting any schemes Arnold may have had of getting her alone.

“That’s a great idea!” Rhonda says, already starting to send out the word that there’s going to be a picnic at the river.

Helga looks at Arnold and mouths a silent “I’m sorry,” and Arnold just shrugs his shoulders in an “Oh well,” manner.

 

Part 3

With their quiet picnic at the river turning into an all-out party Helga drops Arnold at his house to change clothes and grab a towel then waits for him pick her up on his way to get Gerald and Phoebe.

Arriving at her house she runs in the front door passing Miriam who’s stretched out on a recliner watching one of her many afternoon soaps. As Helga leaves she gives a quick, “Going to the river to meet the gang!” and slams the door behind her. She only waits a minute on her front steps for Arnold who arrives in his grandfather’s Packard. She climbs into the front seat and off they go to get Gerald and Phoebe.

“I’m sorry I had to go and open my big mouth to Rhonda. If you think a big get together is going to be too much for you on your first day out we don’t have to go.”

“Well, to be honest, I did contemplate telling Rhonda I wasn’t up to it but then I didn’t really want to lie so I guess we’ll just go along with it. Besides, we have the whole rest of the summer to hang out just us.”

“I guess that’s true but now that you’re better I really doubt we’ll be spending so much time together anymore. Don’t you think?”

He hadn’t even given any thought to the fact that now that he wasn’t sick anymore there was no reason for Helga to come to his house every day. He didn’t think he liked that fact very much at all. He had grown accustomed to waking up every morning to her being there. He loved having her face be the first thing he opened his eyes to. He drove in silence as he mulled the thought over in his head. 

“Uhhh, earth to Hair Boy.” Helga said as she knocked on the side of his head, snapping him out of his reflections.

“Huh, what?”

“You just passed Geraldo’s house. Didn’t you see him and Phoebe waving you down as you sped past?”

Looking in his rearview mirror he put on the brakes and made a U-turn, apologizing as he stopped to let his friends in the car.

“Sorry, first day out and all, I got lost in my thoughts.”

“Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” Gerald asks a bit nervously.

“Yes, I’m fine, I was just a little distracted is all.” Arnold said as he looked over at Helga.

“Mmm-hmm.” Gerald thought to himself as he saw the look in Arnold’s eyes when he looked at Helga. He thought back to the book of love poems he discovered while Arnold was in the hospital, still not totally in agreement with Phoebe over whether or not to tell Arnold about them.

With the two friends loaded into the back seat they took off once again for the river.

As they reached their destination they made their way through the trees, meeting up with Harold and Sid along the way. 

Reaching the beach a wave of déjà vu came over Helga and her thoughts ran back to the last time she stood surveying the beach looking for Arnold. She looked at him now, standing beside her, tall and healthy, and gave him a smile and a squeeze of the hand. He looked down at her smiling back.

“What’s that look for?” He asked.

Running a hand down his bare arm she said, “Nothing really, I’m just glad you’re okay is all.” Then ran off to chat with Phoebe. 

Gerald watched the interaction that just took place and shook his head, still in disbelief over what he learned while Arnold was in the hospital. “That’s either going to end in disaster, or wind up being the greatest love story in history.” He thinks to himself.


	6. Chapter 6

Part 1

Phoebe’s parents were out for the evening. It was their monthly “dinner and the opera with friends” night, which left an empty and inviting house. As usual this was Gerald and Phoebe’s chance for uninterrupted, unhurried alone time. It was still early enough that the two could relax and not have to keep an ear out for any unexpected family members coming home. They lay in Phoebe’s bed, cuddling and giving themselves a chance to catch their breath. Gerald had already told Phoebe what he had discovered that day in Arnold’s hospital room and Phoebe in turn confessed that she knew all about Helga’s affections towards their friend. 

It bothered Gerald that everyone in their group had heard Arnold call out Helga’s name that day, and were witness to what happened between Helga and Lila. It was something that was whispered about behind Arnold’s back and he felt that his friend should be told about it. Phoebe on the other hand felt it was none of their business and that they should stay out of it.

Gerald rolls onto his side now, head propped up with his hand and he faces Phoebe, his free hand running up and down the side of her body as she faces him. 

“I just think he needs to be told is all. Just think, how would it feel if there was something about you that everyone knew but no one told you, not even your best friend? Plus, there’s those poems of Helga’s. Pages and pages of love poems about the guy. Don’t you think he should know about that?”

“Well,” Phoebe said, starting to relent to Gerald’s constant urgings. “Perhaps he should know about his calling out Helga’s name in front of everyone, and the whole thing between Helga and Lila, but I don’t agree about the poems. Those are Helga’s deepest thoughts. I only know about them because we’re best friends and she knows I’ll never tell.”

“I don’t know Phoebe, I think he has feelings for her. I think him knowing how she feels would be a good thing. I’ve seen how he looks at her. I’ve known him long enough and I know how he looks at a girl when he’s in love and this is way more than anything I’ve ever seen before. I’m telling you, this is real.”

“I’m still not sure, Gerald. Helga ……….”

Before she could once again go on and on about Helga and her feelings he cut her off with a deep kiss, pushing any thoughts of Arnold and Helga far from her mind. The subject was not brought up again that night.

 

Part 2

Once Arnold got the okay from his doctor to go back to life as usual Helga had stopped showing up at his house on a daily basis. Arnold found himself missing her face smiling down on him as he awoke each morning. He missed how she’d blush every time his grandfather would refer to her as “Arnold’s little girlfriend” but most of all he just missed her. It had been two days since he had last spoken to her so he made the decision that he would call her and see if she wanted to spend the day together. 

She was sitting on the couch flipping through the TV channels not necessarily interested in what was on but more as a distraction. The last month with Arnold had been one of the best times should could remember in her life. It was like a mini dream come true. A whole month of, for the most part, just her and Arnold. Now that he was better, though, she felt he’d probably want to spend his time with Gerald and the other guys and just figured life was going to go back to normal. Her harboring an internal love for him, and he not really aware that she was alive. 

As she sat sulking and channel surfing the phone rang. Thinking it was Phoebe looking to get together she dragged her butt off the couch to answer it.

“Hey Pheebs, what’s up?” she absently said into the receiver. 

“Hello? Helga?”

She recognized his voice immediately. “Arnold? What’s up Hair Boy? Is anything wrong? You’re not feeling sick again are you?” He never just calls her up for no reason so she’s getting worried now.

“No, I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong. Actually, I was just wondering what you were up to.”

“Oh my God,” she thinks to herself, “he’s actually calling me for no reason! That means he was thinking of me!” She tries not to swoon as she answers him.

“Me? You were wondering about me? Oh, uh, I’m not up to anything, just sitting, watching the old boob tube.”

“Well, I was wondering if you’d like to go do something. I can come pick you up.”

Her heart is dancing in her chest as she fights hard to keep her cool. 

“Well, since there’s nothing else going on I guess we could hang out together.”

“Yes!” He thinks to himself. “Okay, cool, I’ll be at your house in ten minutes.” He hangs up and quickly runs to find his car keys, giving his grandmother a huge hug and a kiss as he heads towards the door. 

“Give Jane a hug from me.” She says.

“Will do Grandma!”

As soon as she hangs up it hits her that the love of her life is on his way to spend the day with her and she’s dressed like a slob. She runs upstairs and tears her closet apart. She settles on a pair of shorts and a plain Tee. She quickly brushes her hair and throws it into a messy bun. No time for make-up she just runs some gloss across her lips. Slipping into her sandals she heads out the door to wait.

She swings open the door just as Arnold is about to knock. He almost hits her in the face.

“Whoa, watch it Arnoldo, I like my nose where it is, in the center of my face.”

“Sorry Helga, I didn’t expect the door to open.” He smiles down at her then grabs her into a quick hug. “That’s from Grandma.” He says then takes her by the hand and they head to the car.

“So, Football Head, where are we headed to?”

“Well, the other day Harold and Sid had stopped by the boarding house on their way home from the summer carnival, I thought maybe we could spend the day there.”

“Hmmm, could be fun. Okay, let’s do it.”

 

Part 3

They make their way to the fairgrounds and pull in to an almost empty parking lot. They walk up to the main gate only to find that they were a day late. The carnival had ended the day before and all that was left now were some closed down rides and empty game booths. 

“Gee, Helga, I guess I got the dates wrong. I’m sorry to drag you down here for nothing.”

“It’s not your fault Arnoldo, you’ve been pretty much out of touch with society for the past month so it’s not totally your fault that we came all the way down here for nothing.” She gives him a smile and a wink to let him know she’s just teasing.

He pushes on one side of the entrance gates and it swings inward. “Actually, the gates are open, there’s no reason we can’t at least walk around and see what we’ve missed.”

“Umm, kind of a weird idea for a date but what the heck. Ok Football Head, lead the way.”

It made him smile to hear her call their day together a “date” but he wondered if she was just kidding or really thought of it as one. Taking his chances that it was the latter he took her by the hand and they entered the empty carnival.

The first thing they came across was a midway filled with barren game booths. Their colorful banners blowing in the breeze, shelves emptied of the prizes that beckoned carnival goers just one day earlier. Helga got into the spirit of the day and exclaimed, “Oh Arnold, look at the huge stuffed animals you can win at the ring toss! I want the big teddy bear.”

“I don’t know Helga, you know how rigged these games can be.”

“What’s the matter Arnoldo, afraid you’ll suck and get stuck with a loser prize?”

He looks at her indignantly. “Heh, I’ll show you loser!”

He pretends to pick up a small plastic ring and tosses it at invisible bottles.

“Steee-rike One!” Helga yells.

He looks at her out of the corner of his eye in mock annoyance and tosses a second ring.

“Steee-rike Two!” She raises two fingers in the air now.

Arnold studies the invisible bottles and tosses the third ring. Before Helga can get out the third strike he yells, “Bulls-eye! A perfect toss, right over the bottle!”

She laughs as he starts to ask her what color teddy bear she’d like but then holds up his hand to quiet her. “I know, you want the pink one.”

She pretends to take the invisible bear and gives an over dramatic sigh as she says, “My hero.”

And so they go, from one empty booth to another. As time passes their simple hand holding turns to arms wrapped around each other waists. It feels so natural they don’t even realize how close they are to each other as they walk. 

The end of the midway opens up to what was, just a few days ago, the most exciting part of the carnival, the rides. Most of them have been taken down but a few skeletal remains still stand forgotten. In the middle sits the merry-go-round. The colored horses stuck frozen in their eternal gallop to nowhere. Scattered among them are seats with tall backs and gilded etchings. They choose an emerald green one to take their rest. 

“I just love calliope music.” Helga says as she leans back and closes her eyes. “If you listen hard you can hear it.”

Arnold watches her as she leans back, her eyes closed and a contented smile on her face. She’s beautiful to him and he can’t resist running the back of his fingers down her cheek. She opens her eyes to look at him as he tilts her chin upwards and gives her a soft kiss. 

“Arnold!” she whispers as he leans in for a second kiss but before he has the chance to kiss her again they are hastily brought back to reality. 

“Hey you kids! What do you think you’re doing up there! This park is closed!”

They are approached by a security guard who lectures them on topics like trespassing and safety violations and such as he escorts them off the property. 

They drive out of the parking lot laughing over being thrown out of an empty carnival. Helga feigns distraught over leaving her teddy bear behind and Arnold promises that next year he’ll win her two.

 

Part 4

With afternoon turning to early evening they decide to head back in to town for dinner. They stop at hamburger joint that’s popular with the gang and as they walk inside sure enough, they see a group of their friends sitting together, burgers, fries and shakes filling the table. 

Harold spies them and yells out “Oh look its Arr-nald and Hel-Gah!” Sid says something to Stinky that they can’t hear and the three boys start laughing. As Arnold and Helga approach the table Lila looks first to Arnold and then to Helga. The table gets quiet and Lila pushes her plate to the middle of the table and stands up.

She looks at Rhonda and says, “I’m sorry guys but I think I’m certainly oh so full to even think of eating anymore” and she turns to leave. 

Rhonda gives the three guys a death stare and follows Lila out. 

Feeling bad Harold, Stinky and Sid chase down the girls while trying to apologize.

Gerald whispers to Phoebe, “I knew something like this was bound to happen. NOW can I talk to him?”

Phoebe sighs and relents. 

Arnold stands at the table dumbfounded, wondering what the hell just happened. 

“You know,” Helga says, I’m not very hungry after all. I think I just want to go home.”

The two say their good-byes to Gerald and Phoebe and leave the restaurant. 

On the drive home Arnold asks Helga if she had any ideas as to what just happened but all Helga would say is “who knows.”

When they arrive at her house Arnold walks her to the door. She thanks him for a fun day and gives him a peck on his cheek before disappearing inside.

When Arnold gets back to the boarding house he calls Gerald to see if he can get any answers out of him and all Gerald says is “Arnold my man, we need to talk.”


	7. Chapter 7

Part 1

The following morning Arnold and Gerald head to City Park to see if there might be a pick-up game of basketball they can join in on. As they walk through the gates Arnold cringes a bit when they pass the spot where he had his appendix attack. 

Gerald gives him a funny look. “You alright man?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, I was just remembering back to when my appendix blew.”

“Oh. Hey, Arnold, about your stay in the hospital, how much of that do you remember?”

They take a seat on a free bench and Arnold thinks back.

“Well, I remember sitting right here, actually, talking to Helga, asking her for a ride home. She gave me some story about not having time and then she just left. I got up to walk and almost made it to the gates when this terrible pain hit my stomach area. I remember it was awful, I fell to the ground and could barely breathe. Some lady ran up and was hovering over me saying stuff but I couldn’t really hear her. I started going in and out of consciousness about the time the ambulance arrived. Last thing I remember is being loaded into the back and the sirens as it drove off. Next thing I know is that its four days later and I wake up in the hospital with Helga passed out by my bed. No one really talks about those lost four days much. Whenever I tried asking Helga about it she just blew it off and changed the subject.”

Gerald watches his friend as he recounts those days and feels sorry for him. “You know, Arnold, I think it’s time you found out just what went on while you were asleep.”

“Finally! I want you to start at the beginning and don’t leave anything out.”

Gerald starts with the day he arrived. He told him about how Arnold’s grandparents had gotten the call from the hospital and rushed over. About how Phoebe ran in to Mr. Potts on the street some time afterwards and that’s when she found out what had happened. How she ran and got Gerald and they rushed to the hospital, how word spread and everyone gathered. He told him about Helga being the last to arrive and how, when she saw Lila sitting at his side holding his hand something snapped in her and she went all ballistic on Lila and took her spot at his bedside and wouldn’t move. 

“Man, you should have seen her Arnold. She insisted that it was all her fault and that how it was her job to sit and watch over you. The look in her eye when someone tried to talk her out of it was scary. It was like she was possessed or something.”

“I told her the idea that it was her fault that I was in the hospital was ludicrous.”

“We all tried telling her that, but she didn’t care. All she’d say is that it was her place to be by your side and there was nothing anyone could do about it. And the way she treated Lila got me so mad, I was furious with her, at first.”

“Is that why Lila always moves away from me when Helga comes near?”

“Well, that’s part of the reason, but I’m getting to that.”

Arnold runs his fingers through his hair, trying to get a grasp on everything he’s hearing.”

“Okay, so, Helga spends the first night by your side and by the next day she figures she may be there for a while so she asks Phoebe to bring her some supplies so she doesn’t have to go home. Phoebe couldn’t make it back to the hospital so she gave me the stuff and when I walked into the room I found Helga asleep in the chair with this journal like book in her lap. I picked it up to see what she was reading and Arnold, you’re not going to believe this but it was a book filled with love poems and shit, all about you and her. Poem after poem about how she’s been in love with you for years and how you’ve never noticed her, I tell you it was freaky.”

“Love poems?” The mention of the poems sparks a vague memory of him floating in an abyss as he hears a disembodied voice talking to him. He remembers feeling that the voice was a life line, a way out of the darkness, if he could just hold on to it he’d be okay. “I remember a voice, it sang to me and I remember concentrating on it because it felt as if it was guiding me upwards.”

He looks at Gerald, realization working its way across his face. “It was Helga.”

“It must have been, she must have been reading those poems to you. Anyway, after I read a few of the poems I must have needed to sit down and when I sat on your bed you moved a bit and that’s the first time you called out Helga’s name.”

“What do you mean, ‘the first time?”

“Uh, yeah, well that first time it was only me in the room and Helga was sleeping so she didn’t hear it, only I did. Helga woke up and I gave her the stuff I had brought and hightailed it out of there.”

He paused for a minute to gather his thoughts and at Arnold’s urging he continued with what he knew.

“The next day a bunch of us decided to stop by and see if there were any changes. When we got there Helga got up off the chair to use the bathroom and that’s when Lila made the dumb decision to sit in her chair. When Helga came out and saw her it was like winter had come over the room, her glare was icy cold. She walked over to Lila and I swear I thought she was going to pound her. She told her to move and Lila started to refuse and that’s when it happened again.”

“I spoke Helga’s name?”

“Yep, loud and clear for everyone to hear. We all just froze and stood there looking from you, to Helga to Lila. It was intense. Lila finally got up and said something to Helga and you know, I expected Helga to be all smug and shit but she wasn’t. It was weird. A sort of kind, then sorry expression came across her face and she just thanked Lila and sat down without a word. Took your hand in hers and that was that. We stayed for a while longer to see if you’d maybe wake up but you didn’t so one by one everyone left. Not too long after that, maybe a day or so, you finally woke up and two days later you went home.”

Arnold sat for a good five minutes letting Gerald’s words sink in. 

“She stayed with me, by my side for four days. Who does that? You don’t just stop your life, put everything on hold like that.”

Gerald puts a hand on Arnold’s shoulder and says, “Face it man, the girl’s in love with you. Has been for years. So now the question is, what are you going to do about it?”

 

Part 2

Just what was he going to do about it? He kept asking himself that question over and over again throughout the next couple of days. He knew now that he definitely loved her, there was no doubt about that. He also now knew that she loved him. They had both wasted enough precious time dancing around their feelings and he was over it so he picked up the phone to ask her out.

Helga was at the mall with Phoebe when her phone rings. She looks at the caller ID and smiles when she sees his name. Without hesitating she answers with a cheery, “Hey Football Head.”

“Hey, Helga, I was wondering if you’re free tonight?”

“Tonight? Sure, I’m free, why?”

“Good. Remember that picnic we were going to go on, just you and me? Well I’m turning in my raincheck on it and I’ll be at your house at 7:00 to pick you up for dinner at the river. Don’t tell anyone what we’re doing this time, okay?”

She chuckles and says, “Ok Hair Boy, I’ll see you at seven.”

Phoebe looks at her with a raised eyebrow, “Did I just hear you and Arnold making arrangements for a dinner date?”

“Yep, but don’t ask me where because I’ve been sworn to silence. Um, I hate to cut our day short but now that this has come up I think I should head home to get ready.”

Agreeing with Helga the two girls head for home. Phoebe gathers that it must have been something Gerald said to Arnold to prompt this sudden date and she makes a mental note to be sure to thank him next time they’re alone together.

 

Part 3

Arnold arrives at Helga’s house at exactly 7:00. She’s ready and waiting when he gets there so neither of them have to put up with any of Big Bob’s scrutiny. As she gets in the car she notices that on the back seat is a blanket and picnic basket for their romantic river side dinner. 

“Soooo, you cook tonight’s dinner yourself?”

“Oh hell no,” Arnold says through a laugh, “I want us to survive this night, not end it with food poisoning. I stopped at the deli and had them put together a gourmet picnic dinner.”

After a bit they made it to the gang’s secret spot and made their way through the grove of trees to the beach on the other end. Arnold starts to spread out the blanket close to the water when Helga tells him to stop.

“I have a better idea.” She says and starts heading for the rocky path that leads to the top of the jumping rock. 

When they reach the top she says, “See, it’s nice and flat, perfect for sitting, and look at the fantastic view!”

Arnold stood at the center of the platform and looked around. They had a perfect 360 degree view. When you looked down you saw the inky river lit up down its center by the almost full moon. You could watch the river flow free until reaching the large rock they were sitting on where it was then forced to adjust its course and slip around it. The only sounds were that of the meandering water and whatever night creatures were lurking around. 

“This is perfect.” He said as he spread out the blanket.

They laughed and joked as they ate. When they had both eaten all their stomachs could hold Helga started packing up the basket. Arnold watched her, his demeanor becoming a bit more serious. Having noticed this change in him Helga spoke up.

“Okay, what’s up Hair Boy, I don’t like the look on your face. I feel like I’ve just had my last meal and now you’re going to drop some big bomb on me.”

“Well, it’s not that bad but I do have something to say.”

Helga steadied herself for whatever it was she was about to hear.

He told her everything he had learned from Gerald. She sat there mortified that Gerald had not only read her innermost thoughts but had told Arnold about them too.

“How dare he, how dare he take my journal and read it. That was private, he had no right.”

“He didn’t know what it was at first, Helga, and when he finally realized it he put it back. Plus, he kept it to himself. He could have blabbed it to everyone but he didn’t. He only told me because he felt I should know. So give him a break, okay.”

“But – It’s so – embarrassing.”

“No Helga, it’s not. Love is not something to be embarrassed by. I love that I know about those poems. Helga, those poems saved me. Your love saved me. It was you who pulled me back to life when I was slipping away. Because of those poems I now know I’m not alone, that we both feel the same way.”

She looks at him searching his eyes. “What are you saying, Arnold?”

“I’m saying that I love you too.”

As he says this Helga turns and watches the river letting his words sink in.

Finally she turns to him as they sit on the blanket, their eyes lock on to each other and they are unable to look away. The air is cooled by the water as it blows, casting her hair about her face in a silken frame. He watches her, examining her features. Her eyes shine with reflective moonlight, deepening the blue until they are dark like the water that meanders past the rock they are on. He follows the curve of her cheek to her mouth. Her lips are naturally full and slightly turned up in a smile. He wonders what she’s thinking about that would bring such a smile. He hopes it’s him. He also wonders what those upturned lips taste like right now. He slowly brings one finger to her cheek, barely touching her. He lets it trail from the rounded top of her cheek to her lips. 

She tilts her head into his touch continuing to gaze into his eyes. Unable to stop the hypnotic pull of his beating heart she is drawn to him. A hand comes up to the back of her neck, gently ushering her forward until their lips meet. They are both immediately swept overboard into the depths of their combined passions. They become lost in a sea of emotions and cling to each other, afraid to let go. Afraid of not being able to make their way back if they do. 

They lay atop the rock and charge, head first, into the storm of first love. Every touch, every sensation new and thrilling. They ride the tide as it lifts them, carrying them almost to the crest of the wave before bringing them back down to calmer water until the next one once again overtakes them. The moon works its magnetic pull, urging on their ebb and flow. Finally they are pulled into the depths of their love before rising one last time to ride the very top. The surge pushes them harder and faster and further until it finally recedes casting them to shore, leaving them pommeled but alive.

They lay on their backs for a while, watching the velvet sky. Without the city lights they are able to see the faint streak of the Milky Way. Helga tracks a satellite as it makes its way on its continual orbit. 

“Arnold?” her voice is breathy and low.

“Yeah, Helga?”

“Nothing,” she says, “I just wanted to hear your voice.”

He chuckles as he gives her a little hug. “You’re such a weirdo.”

“Shut up Football Head.” 

“Make me.”

“Okay, maybe I will.” With that she rolls on top of him, kissing him deeply as his hands caress her body.


	8. Chapter 8

Part 1

 

The hour was late by the time they made their way back to Arnold’s car. Ever the gentleman Arnold holds the passenger door open for Helga as she slides into the front seat. He walks to the other side of the car and before getting in he places the crumpled blanket and empty picnic basket into the back seat. Ignoring the “Stupid Seatbelt Laws” Helga moves across the large bench seat of the Packard and leans against Arnold placing her hand on his thigh as he drives. Arnold grabs the steering wheel with his left hand and wraps his free arm around her shoulders and off they go down the dark dirt road towards home. 

They spend the drive home in contented silence, Arnold placing a gentle kiss on Helga’s forehead every so often. With her head resting on his shoulder she allows herself to just be in the moment. She nuzzles his neck, breathing in his scent, memorizing it, letting the last twelve years of hopeless want and desire fade away. Images of his face through the years, from pre-school on playing through her mind. “All those years” she thinks, wishing she could go back in time to her nine-year-old self and tell her not to worry, that everything’s going to turn out okay.

As they reach town she sits up and looks at Arnold questioningly. “Um, Arnoldo, that was my turn off back there.”

“I know.” Is all he says.

“Well, don’t you think you should have turned then?”

“Nope.”

“Okaaay, what’s going on?”

“I’m not ready to let you go yet.”

She raises one eyebrow and gives him a hard stare. “So you’re kidnapping me?”

“If you want to call it that, then, yeah, I’m kidnapping you.”

He looks over to her and gives her a smile that melts her heart. 

“So where are we going then.”

“To my room. I don’t want you going home. I want to wake up next to you. I want to see your face as the morning sun hits it.”

“That’s all well and fine, Bucko, but how will we explain me coming out of your bedroom in the morning?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Now, no more arguing, you’re staying with me.”

They arrive at the boarding house, the hour is so late they aren’t even greeted by the usual stampede of animals as they open the door. The house is completely quiet as everyone lays sound asleep behind the doors of their various rooms. 

The couple tip toe their way up the stairs and into his room. It’s dark and the only light comes from the night sky as it shines through the windows over his bed to where he guides her, kissing her softly. Secure now in their feelings for each other they take it slow this time, savoring each touch, exploring and learning together. It’s loving and tender, unlike their first time and afterwards they lay looking up through the windows which illuminate them, happy and content.

After a moment Arnold says, “Helga, your love completes me, it makes me whole.”

She answers him with a loud guffaw and starts to laugh hysterically. “Oh brother Football Head, that has GOT to be the cheesiest line I’ve ever heard!”

A little hurt and angered at her outburst, he rolls on top of her, hands planted firmly on either side of her head as he glares into her eyes.

“I’m not kidding Helga, I mean every word I said. I have felt so alone and abandoned for so many years. You have no idea.” He rolls over onto his back again, his hands rubbing his face, wiping away the tears that are starting to form.

Helga lays silently next to him, letting him work out whatever has been building up inside him over the years.

He starts slowly, “When my parents left for San Lorenzo I was too young to realize what was going on. As I grew my grandfather would tell me stories of their great adventures. Always running off to save this or discover that. It sounded wild and exotic. Then I came along and they had a chance at a more normal life. It should have been good. I should have grown up with two loving parents, a family with perhaps a little brother or sister. But no, not my parents. One word from their past and what do they do? They choose others over their own son. How? How could they do that? They abandoned me.”

Having heard the story of his parents many times before Helga reaches over and places a comforting hand on his chest and speaks softly. “Arnold. You know they had every intention on coming back, right? They only thought they’d be gone a couple of weeks.”

Anger coming back to him he looks at her. “That doesn’t matter, I was a baby! I was their baby! They should have chosen ME over the others. I-I just couldn’t forgive that. Deep down, Helga, I just can’t forgive it and it tears me up. Rationally I know they didn’t plan on never coming back but that other side of me just won’t allow me to let it go.”

She moves closer to him, resting her head on his bare chest, listening to the quickened beat of his heart. He absentmindedly strokes her hair as he continues.

“I tried to fill the void they left by searching for someone to love. I would constantly get these irrational crushes, always on girls that wanted nothing to do with me. The more they’d reject me the harder I tried to gain their affections. Who knows, maybe that’s what I thought love was. After all, my parents supposedly loved me, right? They loved me then they left me.”

He pauses for a moment lost in thought. “Then there was you. When we were little you’d hound me to no end. After a few years I started to notice you in a more personal way and wondered if it was that whole “I love her cause she hates me” thing. But the more I got to know the real you, the one that you’re always trying to hide, the feelings grew stronger. Then when I discovered that you really did love me back, I knew it was real. You have filled that void in me.”

He turns and looks her in her eyes. “So you see, Helga, when I say you complete me, I literally mean you COMPLETE me.

She studies his face, her heart breaking for that small child. His story painting their past in a new light. She wonders if had she been able to express her feelings back when they were younger, then maybe she could have saved him a few years’ worth of pain. She realizes that there’s nothing she can do about the past but she can control their path from this night forward. She silently vows to always make him know how loved he is.

Placing her hands on the sides of his face she turns him towards her. “Listen, Bucko, I want you to know this right now. I love you more than life itself. I vow to you that I will never leave your side. I don’t want you to ever doubt my feelings. I’m in this for the long haul no matter what. You are mine, and I am yours and NOTHING is ever going to change that.”

He wraps his arms around her and holds her tightly. Finally able to start letting go of the past he falls into a deep, dreamless sleep.

 

Part 2

They awoke a bit later than Arnold had hoped and he wondered just how many of the tenants would be roaming around downstairs. As he turned to face Helga, though, all thoughts were pushed from his mind. She was beautiful as she lay next to him, eyes closed, her long lashes outlining the blue gemstones that lie within. Her cheeks were soft and rounded, her lips ever so slightly turned up in the faintest of smiles. He wondered what she dreamed about as he runs his fingers through her golden hair. He pushes it back away from her face and places a small kiss on temple. She slowly starts to stir and her eyes peek open. Seeing him her smile grows and she reaches up to run her fingers through his spiked up hair. 

“Morning Arnoldo.” She says through a yawn.

He smiles and says, “I knew it.”

She looks at him quizzically, “knew what?”

“That’d you’d be beautiful in the morning light.”

She gives him a soft chuckle then turns to look at the time. Seeing the lateness of the hour her eyes open wide and she sits up.

“Well, so much for a quick escape.”

“Don’t worry, by this time most everyone’s off to work or busy going about their day.”

They hastily dress and start to leave Arnold’s room. As they step out the door they see Arnold’s grandfather sitting on the bottom step reading a newspaper. Without taking his eyes off the paper he starts to talk.

“Ahh, young love. Such a wonderful time in a person’s life. Of course these days people think someone of the tender age of sixteen is too young to know what love is truly about. But back in my day though at sixteen a boy was considered a man, why people even encouraged marriage at such an age. Yep, true adults. I guess it goes without saying, if one is going to engage in adult activities then its logical to think they are going to take on adult responsibilities and precautions.”

He stands up now, eyes still on his paper as he heads to the bathroom. “Yep, it would be too bad to have ones future put on hold due to lack of responsibility.” 

The two look at each other, both embarrassed and chastised by Phil’s words. They walk silently to the front door and step outside.

Arnold runs his hand through his hair as he looks at Helga. “I can drive you home if you’d like.”

“No, that’s ok, I think I feel like walking.”

Giving her a tight hug they kiss good-bye and he watches her as she rounds the corner. Upon re-entering the house he passes his grandmother as she stands in the kitchen doorway. He gives her a quick good morning kiss and as he heads off to shower he hears her say, “There are many treasures buried deep within the jungle young prince, so hold on tightly to what you find for opportunities like this only knock once.”

 

Part 3

 

As she approaches her house Phil’s words sink deeply into her brain. Her hand subconsciously rests on her stomach as she thinks about all that’s happened over the last twelve plus hours. Hoping that they have been able to dodge a bullet this time she makes a mental note to be better prepared in the future. Walking up her stairs she enters the house bracing herself for the onslaught of questions as to where she was all night. Instead she hears Miriam yell from the couch.

“That you Helga? It’s about time you woke up.”

“Criminy,” Helga thinks to herself, “she didn’t even realize I wasn’t home.”

Considering that just par for the course she plugs in her dead cell phone to charge and heads for the shower. She takes her time, lingering in the warm water as her mind drifts to her and Arnold’s earlier conversation. She thought about how, in a way, their situations had some similar threads running through them. Yes, she physically had parents there while she was growing up but in any other respect she was pretty much alone. Living under her sister’s strong shadow, it was as if she didn’t exist. As hard as she tried she could never live up to any of her sister’s achievements. Her dad either ignored her or bullied her, that is, when all his attention wasn’t being given to Olga, and her mom? Heh, what a joke. She spent most of her time passed out in a smoothie coma, leaving Helga to fend for herself. Yep, when you thought about it, she and Arnold were quite a pair. They really were made for each other.

Stepping out of the shower she grabs two towels, wrapping one around her body and twisting the other one around her long hair. After drying off and dressing she turns her phone on and is greeted with a series of chimes as half a day’s worth of notifications come blaring in. She scrolls through messages ranging from Arnold telling her how much he misses her and loves her to Rhonda telling her that her presence is requested at a girl’s day at her house. 

After texting Arnold an “I love you more” text she calls Rhonda and tells her she’ll be at her house and will pick up Phoebe on the way. Grabbing her keys she slams the door behind her, startling her mom who sits up and mumbles a quick “Ok B, dinner will be ready in a bit.”

As Phoebe climbs into Helga’s VW she eagerly pumps her for information on her and Arnold’s date night.

Helga smiles to herself, trying to decide just how much she’s willing to tell.


	9. Chapter 9

Part 1

 

Phoebe enters Helga’s car eager to hear all about her and Arnold’s romantic date of the previous night.

“…and don’t leave out any details!” Phoebe says excitedly

Choosing her words carefully Helga starts to fill her in.

“First things first Pheebs, you have to promise that anything I say is just between us. You can’t even blab to that tall haired boyfriend of yours!”

“He has a name Helga, and I really think you should use it. We’re not kids anymore.”

“Ok, ok, don’t even tell Geraldo what I’m going to say.”

“I promise, now spill!”

“Well, since our quiet picnic lunch didn’t work out Arnold thought it would be nice to have a romantic dinner alone at the river. I agreed so without telling anyone that’s where we headed.”

“Ohhh,” Phoebe said dreamily, “I can just picture the two of you sitting in the moonlight by the water’s edge.”

“Actually, we didn’t sit on the beach, we hauled everything up to the top of the big jumping rock where it’s nice and flat and had dinner there.”

“Oh my God, I can’t stand it, that’s even more romantic then the beach!”

“Right! That’s what I thought.”

“So, you ate. Then what happened?”

Helga starts to fidget some in her seat as she stares at the road ahead. “Well – Um – we kinda sorta started talking and he told me he loved me.”

Phoebe’s eyes grow wide, “And you told him you loved him back, right? Oh please tell me you didn’t blow it again and deny your feelings.”

Starting to blush now Helga says, “Ohhh, I definitely didn’t deny my feelings.” 

“Why, what did you do?”

“Well, we kinda sorta….”

“NO!” Phoebe now yells, “You did it, didn’t you!!!”

“Maaaybe, but I swear Phoebe, if you dare tell anybody!”

“I swear, my lips are sealed.” Phoebe says as she sits back smiling, happy for her best friend, and thinks to herself, “It’s about time!” 

 

Part 2

When they get to Rhonda’s house whatever girls that could make it were there. Rhonda led the girls to the family room where Nadine and Sheena were sitting on a couch with their faces covered in some sort of green goo. Lila was on the floor painting her toenails. Patty was dipping a brush into another bottle of nail polish trying her best to cover the nails on her right hand without getting the polish all over her fingers.

The girls all said their hellos and Phoebe wandered over to check out the green goo as Rhonda tried talking Helga into painting her toes. 

Placing her purse and cell phone on the coffee table, Helga kicks off her sandals and, trying to be nice, sits on the floor next to Lila. She shoves some cotton between each toe and begins to swipe on some bright pink nail polish. 

All the girls engage in friendly chit chat until Rhonda turns her attention to Helga. “Sooo, we all missed you and Arnold last night at the bowling alley. Were you two together?”

Helga shoots a quick glance to Phoebe then looks back to Rhonda. “I don’t know, maybe we were. What’s it to you?”

“Oh, nothing, I’m just curious is all. So what did you two do?”

“Nothing, we just got together for some dinner is all.”

“Dinner huh. What restaurant did you go to?”

Helga’s anger is starting to rise and she starts talking through gritted teeth, “We didn’t go to a restaurant, we had a picnic at the river. Now, no more questions, it was just dinner.”

Rhonda starts to say something back when Helga’s phone lets out a loud chime. Rhonda looks at the phone and grabs it. “Oh look, it’s a message from Arnold!”

Helga starts to get up trying not to get polish on the Lloyd’s expensive Persian rug as Rhonda backs away while opening the message and starts reading their conversation.

“Oh – My – Word!” Rhonda exclaims, “you guys are not going to believe this!”

Trying to defend her friend Phoebe speaks up, “Rhonda, that’s a private conversation, you have no right to be reading it.”

Helga catches up to Rhonda and grabs her phone but not before Rhonda has had a chance to read most of their back and forth conversation. Putting two and two together she yells out, “YOU AND ARNOLD DID IT!”

The girl’s let out a collective gasp then all start laughing and talking at once. Phoebe lectures Rhonda on how she should be ashamed of herself for reading Helga’s private message. Lila sits with her head bowed, hands in her lap. She raises her eyes to look at Helga then gets up and slowly walks out of the room.

Frustrated and not feeling like getting in to it with Rhonda right now she gives Rhonda a hard shove and leaves the gaggle of girls to their laughing, she grabs her phone and follows Lila to find her sitting alone in a more formal living room. 

Helga sits next to her and nervously plays with her hair. “Um, Lila, are you okay?”

Lila sits staring at her fingers as she nods her head. “Yes, Helga, I’m sure I’m oh so fine.”

“I’m sorry you had to find out about me and Arnold like this. I know you have feelings for him now.”

Lila leans against the back of the sofa and looks at Helga. “You know, Helga, for a while I thought I was starting to have feelings for Arnold but when he called your name out at the hospital that day I went home and kept running my feelings over and over in my head. It’s not so much that I like, liked Arnold, it was more that I was ever so mad at you for the way you treated him. I blamed you for him being in the hospital.”

“Believe me, Lila, I’ve blamed myself for that too.”

“Oh Helga, I’m oh so certain now that you wouldn’t have left him if you really knew how sick he was.”

Helga places a hand on Lila’s shoulder. “No, Lila, I never would have.”

The two girls smile at each other.

“Listen, Lila, I’d really like to put all this behind us and, well, I was thinking that maybe we can be friends.”

Smiling, Lila brings her clasped hands up to her heart. “Yes, I’m oh so certain that I would just love that!”

Unbeknownst to Helga, as she and Lila sat in the living room mending their friendship Rhonda was on the phone texting Sid about the newest gossip. Sid in turn texted Stinky who texted Harold, whose phone was off as usual, and Curly who then texted Gerald.

Arnold and Gerald were at the park playing a game of H.O.R.S.E. when Gerald’s phone went off. As Arnold was taking his shot Gerald checked his message then looked at Arnold.

“Dude,” he says, “can you tell me why I’m finding out that you and Helga had sex at the river from Curly?”

“What!” Arnold yelled.

Gerald showed him Curly’s message and he immediately called Helga.

While sitting and chatting happily with Lila, Helga’s phone goes off. Noticing that it’s Arnold she smiles and immediately answers.

“Hey Football Head, what’s up?”

She listens to what he has to say, her eyes growing steely and cold. She hangs up the phone then yells, “RHONDA! I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”

It takes three of the girls to hold Helga back from charging at Rhonda, the whole time Rhonda is making up excuses as to why it’s a good thing that now everyone knows their little secret.

“Think about it Helga, now you two don’t have to be all sneaky and mysterious. Always worried that someone’s going to find out.”

Thinking about it for a bit Helga decides that she guesses she can sort of see things Rhonda’s way. She doesn’t totally forgive her, but decides she won’t kill her. 

Apologies are made and accepted, phone calls are made and the small group of friends decide to all meet at the movies for a fun night out.

 

Part 3

The band of friends meet in front of the theatre and after looking at everything that is playing they decide on a cheesy thriller titled “My Deadly Immortal”. It was one of those movies that was so bad it was good. By the time they’ve gotten their tickets and popcorn and such the theatre is pretty full and it’s hard to find more than three or four seats together. So they break up into smaller groups with Arnold, Helga, Gerald and Phoebe towards the front, Sid and Rhonda a few rows back, Nadine, Sheena, Stinky and Patty behind them. Curly stopped off to find Harold so by the time they got there the only seats they could find were in the very back row. 

While they sit waiting for the movie to start Curly asks Harold what he thinks about the news.

“What news?” Harold asks clearly confused.

“You know, about Helga and Arnold. Didn’t you get a text?”

“Aww, you know I hardly ever check my texts.”

“Well, you might want to turn on your phone and check this one.”

Arnold and Helga sit happily munching popcorn and talking to Gerald and Phoebe when all of a sudden they hear Harold from the back of the theatre. 

“AHHHH-HA-HA-HA! Ar-Nald and Hel-Ga did it at the river!!!”

Helga immediately covers her face with both hands as she slinks down in her seat. Arnold looks around wildly trying to see who might be at the theatre that would see them. He looks to his left only to see Mr. Potts, who gives him a knowing wink and a thumbs up. Embarrassed beyond belief Arnold turns his wide eyes to the screen and doesn’t look away.

The movie starts and the giggles can still be heard through the crowd. After a while it seems like things have calmed down so Helga and Arnold start to relax. Unfortunately for the two, though, every time Arnold tries to put his arm around Helga someone starts to giggle, embarrassing them all over again.

Helga leans in to Arnold and whispers in his ear, “Remind me to resume my vow to kill Rhonda once we get out of here.”

After the movie Phoebe, Gerald and Arnold loaded into Helga’s car. After dropping Gerald and Phoebe off at Gerald’s house Helga drove Arnold to the boarding house. They sat on the front steps for a while just passing time and talking.

“I guess it’s been quite the past 24 hours, hasn’t it.” Arnold shyly says.

“Yeah, I guess it has. I’m sorry about Rhonda getting ahold of my phone earlier, she really caused a lot of trouble for us.”

“That’s ok, she was just being who she is. You’re not embarrassed about us, are you Helga?”

Shocked that he would ask her such a thing she glares at him, “No! Of course not. I will never be embarrassed by my love for you.”

“Well, when you think about it then, maybe she did us a favor by just getting things out in the open.”

Helga chuckles at what Arnold said. “You know, that’s exactly what she said when I found out she had texted everybody about us.”

They sit in silence for a bit.

“You know, Lila and I had a little talk.” Helga finally spoke up. 

“Really? How did that go?”

“Pretty good, really. We’re actually friends now.”

“That’s great! You know, I hope my grandfather didn’t embarrass you too much this morning. I can’t believe he was sitting there, waiting for us.”

“Well, I was a bit mortified but he did make some pretty good points.”

“Yeah,” Arnold agreed, “I guess we should be a bit more responsible.”

Helga nods her head as she leans into Arnold. “Yeah, we will.”

Arnold turns her face towards his. “You know, I meant everything I said to you.”

“I know, me too.”

They continue to sit on Arnold’s stoop, heads close, talking and softly laughing into the wee hours of the night.


	10. Chapter 10

Part 1

 

It was a few days into August now, with school starting right after Labor Day the gang had about a month of summer left to enjoy. Arnold and Helga spent as much time together as they could, meeting early in the morning and not parting ways until late at night. They would find opportunities to be alone here and there and always made the best use of the time. More of their time was spent at the boarding house then at Helga’s because Arnold always felt uncomfortable whenever Big Bob was around. 

For a while after the whole fiasco of Rhonda playing Town Crier with their text conversations they were subjected to bouts of teasing and finger pointing. But fortunately as things go, once the next big story happened they were shoved to the back of the shelf and life went on as normal. 

In this instance their saving grace was when Wolfgang had gotten busted for some illegal street racing. It wouldn’t have been so bad if he hadn’t of decided to lead the cops on a high speed chase through town. He would have had them beat, though, except for the fact that he ran into a fire hydrant, knocking it over and flooding a section of downtown. 

With the spotlight off them, they were free to be the couple Helga had dreamed of being since she was a small child. Life was good and things were looking up.

On this particular day the couple headed off to Gerald’s Field for an afternoon game of baseball. Helga took up her usual spot as catcher and Arnold took his position as short stop. Helga was taunting Harold as he came up to bat.

“Everybody move in, Pink Boy’s at bat.” 

As Harold turned to whine at Helga Gerald’s pitch flew right past him causing Helga to laugh as she yelled “Steeerike One!”

“Heeey,” Harold cried, “That’s no fair, I wasn’t ready!”

“As long as you’re in the batter’s box you’re ready Pinky.” Helga said dismissing his complaints.

Gerald winds up for the pitch and tosses a fast one just inside of the strike range. Harold swings and misses.

“Steeerike Two!” Helga taunts causing Harold’s face to redden.

“Oh yeah!” Harold says, determined to hit the next pitch, “Watch this!”

Gerald throws a fast one, Harold swings and hits it hard right down center field.

He takes off running as Helga tears off her face mask and steps up to cover home plate. As she stands there she starts to feel a bit dizzy. Blaming it on the hot sun she turns her attention back to the game just in time to see Harold barreling into her. With no time to move Harold mows her over, throwing her onto her back.

“Helga!” Arnold yells as he runs to her to see if she’s ok. 

Reaching her he supports her shoulders with his knees and brushes the hair back from her face. “Helga, are you ok?”

There’s a crowd around her now as she looks up into Arnold’s concerned eyes. Shaking the cobwebs from her head she says, “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Help me up so we can get on with the game.”

Arnold helps her to her feet but she is shaky and holds on to him for support. Phoebe speaks up with concern. “You don’t look so well, Helga. Are you sure you’re alright?”

Head spinning Helga admits that maybe Harold hit her a little too hard and in a fashion that is so not like her she says, “I think maybe I should sit this one out. I’m gonna head home.”

Arnold insists on walking her home and the two leave, the rest of the gang comment on how Helga’s taken hits much worse than that in the past and has never stopped a game over it. 

Rhonda watches the two walk away, Helga leaning on Arnold like some sort of damsel in distress and suspiciously wonders just what’s going on with her. 

 

Part 2

When the two reach the Pataki household they enter the empty house, Helga wondering where her mom is off to in the middle of the day. She’s usually plastered to the recliner watching one of her mindless soaps. She’s pasty white by now and Arnold looks at her with concern as he tucks her in to bed. 

“I’m really ok Arnoldo.” Helga says as he places his hand on her forehead. 

“I don’t know, Helga, I think you may be sick or something. You feel awfully warm.”

“Well Doi, Arnold, It was like 95 degrees out there and hotter than hell in that catcher’s mask. The sun just got to me is all.”

“Well, to be on the safe side you should probably just take some aspirin and rest for the rest of the day. I’ll stay with you and keep you company.”

He gets her a cool glass of water and some aspirin. The water feels good as it slides down her throat, cooling her. They sit and talk quietly for some time before she drifts off to sleep. Arnold kisses her forehead as he gets up to leave her to her rest. 

As he exits her bedroom Big Bob is walking down the hallway. Bob eyes Arnold suspiciously and asks him what he was doing in his daughter’s bedroom. Arnold assures him that nothing was going on and that Helga wasn’t feeling well so he was just making sure she was ok. Bob’s eyes never left him as he let himself out the front door. “Damn,” Arnold thinks to himself, “how does she stand living with that guy.” 

After a couple of hours of rest Helga wakes up feeling a lot better. The aspirin did its job of lowering her fever. She starts to head to the shower when her dad intercepts her.

“I don’t like you being alone in this house with that Alfred fellow.” He snarls.

“His name is Arnold, dad, and he’s my boyfriend now so he’s going to be hanging around.”

“Boyfriend!” Bob Bellows, “you’re too young to have a boyfriend!”

He takes a step towards Helga, causing her to flinch and cower a bit as she moves back from him. 

Gathering her courage she speaks up, “I’m almost seventeen now, Dad, I’m plenty old enough to have a boyfriend and like it or not, Arnold is the one I choose to fill that position.” She then hastily ducks into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. She leans against the door, heart pounding relieved that she escaped that confrontation unharmed.

After her shower she slowly opens the bathroom door, looking for any signs of her father. Luckily the house is empty so she goes to her room and lies on her bed listening to music. Her mind wanders to her and Arnold’s romantic dinner at the river. Her heart is filled with so much love for him that sometimes she feels as if it’s just going to explode right there in her chest. She’s shaken from her reverie when her cell phone goes off. It’s Arnold calling to check up on her.

“Hi, I was just wondering how you’re feeling.”

“Other than a slight headache I guess I’m feeling pretty good. I miss you.”

“I miss you too. I’m glad you’re ok.” Neither of them tell the other of their run-ins with her father. “I was wondering if you’re feeling up to meeting the gang for pizza later?”

She’s not really feeling 100% but doesn’t want to be home when Bob comes back so she agrees to the night out. 

“Great! I’ll pick you up in a half an hour.”

She hangs up the phone and sits on the edge of her bed rubbing her stomach. For safe measure she takes another dose of aspirin and gets ready for Arnold.

 

Part 3

Helga waits on the front steps for Arnold so the two can avoid any scene that her dad may cause them. Arnold pulls up and she slides into the Packard. She scoots over closely to him and rests her head on his shoulder.

“You know, Helga, you really should wear a seatbelt.”

“Ugh, when I wear them I can’t cuddle close up to you.”

“Well, I’d rather have you alive then splattered across the windshield if there was to be an accident.”

“Arnoldo, you’re such a safe driver I don’t hardly ever see you getting in any accidents.”

She leans in to kiss his cheek and as she does he can feel heat radiating off her.

“You still feel warm, are you sure you’re okay?”

“Never better Bucko, now just concentrate on driving so I don’t have to worry about becoming windshield slime.”

He chuckles and they spend the rest of the drive listing to Arnold’s favorite jazz station. She smiles at his quirky taste in music.

When they arrive at the restaurant Arnold opens the passenger door for her, helping her out of the car. As she stands a brief wave of dizziness hits her and she wavers for a moment. Passing it off as nothing she starts walking. As they enter the restaurant they find their friends already sitting at a long table. There are two seats waiting for them and they sit down and get lost in conversation. 

As time passes Helga’s health starts to slowly deteriorate so that when the food finally arrives the smell of it turns her stomach. She looks at the greasy pepperoni floating on top of one of the pizzas and nearly loses it right there. She jumps up covering her mouth.

“I’ll be right back!” She says through her fingers and heads for the ladies room. Phoebe runs to follow her.

Phoebe enters the bathroom just as Helga makes it to an empty toilet and proceeds to empty her stomach into it.

“Helga! Are you alright? What’s going on with you?”

“Ugh, Pheebs, I think I have the flu, I’ve felt awful ever since the softball game this afternoon.”

Having Helga run down her symptoms Phoebe agrees that it’s a bad case of the flu and they head back to their friends. Helga makes her apologies and asks Arnold to drive her home. They leave the restaurant as Phoebe fills the gang in on Helga’s condition. Rhonda watches, eyeing the couple, thinking in her own mind it’s something else.

They arrive at Helga’s house and she talks Arnold out of walking her in, she wants to avoid any confrontation with Bob that she can. Reluctantly he says goodnight on the doorstep and drives away. Once again she makes it to a toilet as she empties whatever is left in her stomach. She heads to bed, where she stays for the next three days.

It’s the day after Helga’s unfortunate incident at the pizza restaurant. A handful of friends are enjoying a day at the river. Rhonda sits on the beach with Nadine and Sheena as they gossip over the previous night’s events.

“Who is she trying to kid?” Rhonda says sarcastically, “The flu, heh, riiight.”

“What are you saying?” Nadine asks narrowing her eyes at Rhonda.

“Nothing, it’s just a little funny if you ask me. Helga and Arnold hook up and now all of a sudden she’s blowing chunks left and right. I just don’t think it’s the flu is all.”

Sheena looks at her with wide eyes. “What are you saying? You don’t think she’s…….”

Rhonda cuts her off. “I’m not saying that BUT, it does seem suspicious to me, don’t you think?”

The two girls look at each other as Rhonda’s words sink in and start to giggle as Lila and Stinky walk up.

“What seems to be oh so funny?” Lila asks.

Nadine and Sheena look at each other before Sheena says “Helga’s pregnant!”

“Garsh!” Stinky exclaims, and that’s how the rumor gets started.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is that part of the ride where you’ve reached the precipice of the climb and begin that white knuckle downward dive. It doesn't last long so if family dysfunction isn't for you just hold on, it won't last long. There’s just a few chapters left till not only the end of summer, but the end of the story too. So hopefully you’ll all hang on till the end!

Part 1

 

Learning Bob’s schedule Arnold knows exactly when to arrive and leave Helga’s house if he wants to avoid him. He spends his days with Helga, keeping her company as her flu works its way through her system. She complains that she doesn’t want him to catch it but he doesn’t care. So there they stay, in Helga’s bedroom, pretty much cut off from the rest of the outside world. 

Miriam surprises them both by taking an actual, heartfelt, concern for Helga and checks in on her periodically to see if she needs anything. It makes Miriam happy for her daughter to have a boyfriend like Arnold. She’s always liked him, ever since the two were kids. She felt he was a good influence on her daughter and it was very obvious that he made her happy. So when she found out that the two were finally a couple she silently gave them her blessing, praying that Bob wouldn’t do anything to mess things up. That’s why, when she found out about them, she kept it to herself, not even telling Olga. 

She knew how close Bob was to their eldest daughter and didn’t want Olga talking to Bob about the two. Plus, she knew that if Bob found out that Helga was actually serious about Arnold there would be hell to pay and Helga has been battered enough by Bob’s rage in the past. She deserved this one bit of happiness. So that is why she did her best to protect the happy couple.

She peeks her head into Helga’s room now and takes in the sight before her. Helga is propped up against the headboard of her bed. Arnold is sitting cross legged opposite her. There is a checkers board between them. The look of love in their eyes every time they look at each other melts Miriam’s heart. Arnold is playfully accusing Helga of cheating and she is vehemently denying it. Having been caught in her little scheme Helga moves her legs pretending that it was an accident. Arnold laughs and calls her a cheater once more and she tells him to prove it. He then picks up some checkers and throws them at her then leans in and gives her a sweet kiss. She blushes and starts picking up the spilled checkers.

Miriam makes a small clearing sound in her throat and the couple’s attention is turned towards her.

“I was just wondering how your stomach was, Helga. Do you think you can keep down some soup today?”

“Actually, I am finally feeling better, maybe I could try some soup.”

“Okay then, give me a few minutes and I’ll be in with two bowls of soup and some crackers.”

Once she’s gone Arnold can’t help but comment on how attentive Miriam has been over the last couple of days. Helga agrees that it’s totally out of place for her but who knows. It’s been a long time since anyone’s been sick in the house so maybe it is just the fact that she has some sort of purpose that keeps her off the smoothie juice and acting like a real mom.

Arnold gets up to put the checkers box back in Helga’s closet then goes back to sit on her bed. He puts his hand on her forehead and lets it linger there. “I think your fever is finally gone for good.” He says as his hand trails down to brush her cheek.

She stares into his green eyes and reaches out, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. She pulls him towards her and places a lingering kiss on his lips. Their bodies start to heat up and he wishes that they had the house to themselves. Knowing that Miriam could come through the door at any time, though, they break apart and go back to light conversation. 

No more than a minute later Miriam enters the room with a tray laden with soup and crackers.

 

Part 2  
It’s been a couple of days since Rhonda put the bug in Sheena and Nadine’s ears that Helga might be pregnant. When Stinky and Lila found out they were made to swear that they wouldn’t tell anybody. Lila, being the kind person she was, wasn’t so sure she believed the girls so she kept it to herself. Stinky, on the other hand, only lasted until that night before saying something to Sid. 

Sid didn’t believe him at first but after they talked a bit about that night at the restaurant they thought it was pretty fishy how quickly Helga felt sick so he then concurred that she must, indeed, be pregnant. 

Sid and Harold were catching frogs the next day at the park when the night of the pizza dinner came up. 

“Awww, you’re crazy Sid.” Harold said as he grabbed for a big bullfrog. “Arnold and Helga aren’t stupid enough to get themselves in a situation like that.”

“I don’t know, Harold, stuff like this happens all the time.”

Harold contemplates it and figures that if so many people think so then it must be true.

Later that afternoon Harold is at his part time job at Green Meats helping Mr. Green cut and wrap meat. They get in to a conversation and Harold accidently lets the rumor slip. 

“Are you sure Harold?” Marty asks, “Something like this is nothing to joke about. You need to be absolutely sure before spreading news like that.”

“Well of course I’m sure Mr. Green, Helga even told Rhonda herself.” Harold had said, without realizing he was adding his own little twist to the story. 

“Well I’ll be,” Marty thinks to himself, “Bob Pataki’s going to be a grandfather.” 

Slowly word starts to spread through the adult community of the small neighborhood. People talk in hushed voices and accusing whispers. Phoebe’s mother gets an earful at the grocery store and when she gets home she questions Phoebe.

“Just how long were you going to sit on this little secret?” her mom asks.

“What secret?” Phoebe asks, honestly unaware of the spreading rumor and wondering why she and Gerald weren’t let in on it. 

“The one about your little friends, Helga and Arnold.”

“I’m certain I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about mother.” Phoebe is confused now, wondering just what it is that everyone could be talking about. 

Her mom looks at her exasperatingly. “Everyone’s talking about your little friend being, you know, pregnant.”

“WHAT!” Phoebe yells, “Pregnant? Where would anyone get the idea Helga is pregnant?”

She thinks about that night at dinner, then she thinks about Rhonda and her penchant for spreading rumors. “Rhonda!” she thinks to herself.

She does her best to convince her mother that Helga is not pregnant and begs her to start telling her friends the truth in an effort to keep the lie spreading any further. 

Big Bob is finishing up things at his beeper emporium when a last customer comes walking in. He turns to greet Marty Green as he has come in to look at Bob’s selection of cell phones. They are engaged in menial chit chat when Marty brings up the subject of grandparenthood.

“So, are you and the Misses excited for the upcoming event?”

Not having any idea what Marty’s talking about Bob gives him a quizzical look. “Event? What are you talking about, Marty.”

“I’m talking about you and the Misses becoming grandparents soon. I bet it came as quite a surprise to you when you found out about Helga’s pregnancy.”

“WHAAAAT!” Bob screamed, “I’m going to kill him!” he said as he sped out the door and headed for home.

 

Part 3

Completely in the dark still over what’s being said about her and Arnold, Helga is finally feeling more like her old self. She’s dressed and up walking about the house. She and Arnold have moved from her bedroom to the family room and are sitting watching television. Miriam busies herself in the kitchen. Feeling like having a little snack Arnold and Helga join Miriam and they sit at the table and are engaged in light conversation when they hear the front door slam open.

“Where is that son of a bitch!” They hear Bob bellow from the front room. When they hear his footsteps stomp down the hall they get up, bracing themselves for the pending onslaught. 

Bob stands in the doorway to the kitchen, fire in his eyes as they settle on Arnold. “There you are you bastard!” he says as he slowly approaches. “I knew you’d be trouble. I knew from the moment you came sniffing around here that you’d be trouble. And now you show your true colors. I’m going to kill you.”

Standing in total confusion Arnold speaks up. “What are you talking about? You’re not making any sense. What trouble are you talking about?”

“Don’t play innocent with me, word is all over the street about you and Helga. I don’t know how long you thought you could keep it a secret but the cats out of the bag now.”

His voice gets really low now, scaring Helga and her mom for they know what comes next when Bob lowers his voice like that.

As Bob slowly advances, fists balled up at his sides he breathes, “You got my daughter pregnant, didn’t you?”

At that statement Miriam brings a hand up to her lips as she gasps, Helga’s stomach churns in fear and Arnold stands there wide eyed and lets out a “WHAT!”

Taking all the courage she has Helga steps forward and tries to calm Bob down. “Pregnant? I’m not pregnant dad. Who told you this? It’s not true!”

“Shut up, Helga, this is between me and your EX-boyfriend here.”

Bob advances on Arnold starting to swing. As Arnold braces himself for a fight Helga steps between them trying to grab Big Bob’s arm to make him stop. 

He lashes out at her, slamming the side of her face with the back of his fist. She’s thrown back against the wall where she stands frozen in fear. This is not the first time she’s been at the tail end of those hands but this is the worse she’s had to endure.

Bob looks at her and growls, “Go to your room.”

Not wanting to leave Arnold but fearful of being hit again she does as he says.

Arnold is furious now and he lunges at Bob with his fists. He catches him right below his eye, leaving a small cut which starts to bleed. 

Bob brings a hand up to his cheek and looks at the blood that is left on his fingers. With his fist raised he takes a step towards Arnold who stands his ground, ready to do his best to counter any attack that is coming his way. 

Miriam finally has had enough. Gathering her courage she rushes over and stands between the two. Arnold stands behind her, feet apart, hands at his sides staring Bob down. Bob stands in front of her glaring at Arnold over her shoulder.

Miriam glares at Bob, “You are going to have to go through me to get to the boy.” She says, adrenaline the only thing keeping her standing. 

Without taking his eyes off of Bob Arnold tries to get him to listen. He talks slowly and deliberately. 

“I don’t know who you’ve been talking to, or who it is that has been spreading these lies, but I’m telling you now that Helga is not pregnant.”

“Don’t lie, there were witnesses saying that she’s been having morning sickness.”

“What she’s been having, is the flu. If you were any kind of real father you would have realized this. After all, she’s only spent the last three days in her room with a high fever. But no, as always you don’t even notice her. All her life you’ve never noticed her.”

Bob’s fists start to unclench a bit as Arnold’s words hit home. He looks at his wife. “Is this true, Miriam?”

“Is what true, B? The fact that Helga has been fighting the flu for three days or the fact that you never take the time to notice your daughter?

Realizing he’s made a terrible mistake, Bob opens his fists, leaving his arms to hang at his sides. Arnold pushes past Helga’s parents and rushes to her room to check up on her.

Furious with him, Miriam leads Bob over to the kitchen table where they can have a much needed heart to heart.

Helga lays on her bed, her hand rubbing the welt that is starting to form on her cheek. Her pillow drenched in spilt tears. Arnold knocks softly on her door before opening it and slowly walks in. She sits up on the bed as he walks over to her, and she wipes her wet face. He sits down and places his fingers under her chin tilting her face up. He sees the red welt and kisses it tenderly. She casts her eyes down, her shoulders starting to shake as she loses control. He pulls her in close and she cries against his shoulder, releasing years of built up tension and shame into him as he just holds on, gently rocking her. 

On the bedside table her turned off phone receives a message. It’s Phoebe with news of a rumor that’s been spreading through town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m kinda proud of Arnold standing up to Big Bob like that. You go boy! We’ll see a little more of his protective nature in the next chapter. I just wanted to give a little peek into what life behind the scenes in the Pataki household was like for Helga all those years. Maybe shed a little light as to why things are like they are.


	12. Chapter 12

Part 1

 

Once her shoulders have stopped shaking and the crying has subsided he loosens his hold on her. He leans over towards the nightstand and grabs a few tissues. Using one to wipe her tears he hands her the others.

“I’m so sorry.” She whispers to him, not looking him in the eye.

He holds her face gently making her look at him and stares into her eyes. “What are you apologizing for? You did nothing wrong. None of this was your fault.”

“Yes it is my fault, it’s my fault for ever thinking we could be happy together.” She gets up and starts to pace the room.

“You’re too good for me, Arnold, I - I don’t deserve you. We haven’t even been together a month and look at the trouble I’ve caused you.” She’s crying again, the thought of losing him over what has happened is too much to bear. “You hook up with me and become the object of ridicule and gossip and anger. All of it directed at you when you didn’t even do anything to deserve it. You need to get as far away from me as possible before I ruin your life.”

“Don’t be stupid.” He says, getting angry at even the suggestion of them being apart. “Listen to yourself, you’re not making any sense at all. This is no more your fault than it is mine.”

She starts to say something but he interrupts her, “No, just stop. You had nothing to do with the spread of those rumors. If I had to bet any money on it I’d say it was probably Rhonda and her love for gossip that’s to blame. Not only that, it’s every damn person that fed into the gossip that’s at fault here too. And your dad! Heh, he’s a whole set of problems on his own.”

He takes her hands now and his voice softens. “I’m not leaving you, and you’re not leaving me. Remember what you said to me that night in my room, you said, and I quote, ‘I’m in this for the long haul no matter what.’, end quote, subject closed.”

A smile comes to her face as he uses her own words against her. She hugs him and holds on tightly and lets out a sigh. “Oh Arnold, how are we going to face everybody?”

“Easy,” he says, “with our backs straight and our heads held high.”

He gives her a hug and thinks out loud, “I wonder why Phoebe never said anything to you.”

“You know, that’s a good question.” She says as she reaches for her phone, turning it on.

As soon as it boots up there’s a notification that she has one missed text and a missed phone call. She clicks into the text and with their question answered she holds up her phone showing him Phoebe’s message of warning.

“Well that answers that.” He says.

As he looks at her, his eyes are once again drawn to the welt on her cheek. It’s not as swollen as it was at first but she will definitely end up with a bruise. He reaches up and touches it lightly. She winces a bit under his fingertips. 

“I knew life here wasn’t one big bowl of cherries for you, but I never realized you had to put up with stuff like this. Honestly, Helga, when I think of him hitting you I want to……..” 

She turns away from him and looks out her window, her hand rubbing her cheek. “Yeah, well, I wouldn’t go losing any sleep over it. That’s just how life was growing up. It’s no wonder Miriam drinks and Olga got out of here the minute she graduated from high school. Of course, he never touched her, ‘little miss perfect’ that she was.”

“And if he ever touches you again like that, Helga, I swear, I will do something about it.”

He starts to chuckle, “You should have seen your mom, though. After I hit your dad….”

“You hit Big Bob?” Helga interrupted in surprise. 

He flexes the hand that hit Bob, it was still a bit sore from the blow. “Yeah, I sure did. Gave him a good one, right under his eye. Anyway, after I hit him I thought for sure my life was over but then your mom steps up and stands in between us like some sort of superhero daring him to come at her! She was all like ‘You’re going to have to go through me to get to the boy!’” The two are both smiling at the thought of Miriam going all Wonder Woman on Bob. 

Getting serious again Arnold sits Helga on her bed. “Just – don’t worry anymore, okay. Everything’s going to work out, you’ll see. It’s going to be alright.” 

“Yes, it will be,” She says, “for you and me it will. I’m not so sure about Rhonda though, not once I get through with her.”

There’s a knock at her door and then “Bob’s voice can be softly heard from the other side. “Hey, Uh, Helga, can I come in?”

At the sound of his voice Helga’s body stiffens. Arnold turns to stand between her and the door, his arms crossed defiantly in front of him. “Come in.” He says with a touch of malice in his voice.

Bob slowly opens the door and steps inside. “Oh, uh, hello Alfred, you still here?”

Arnold looks him straight in the eye and says, “Arnold.”

“Huh?” Bob looks at him confused. 

“The name is Arnold. Arnold – Philip – Shortman. I think it’s time you started remembering it.”

“Okay, Okay, I’m sorry. Arnold.” He throws a hand up, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, well, anyway, I just want to say I’m sorry. Miriam explained everything to me. I should have known better than to believe street gossip. I’m sorry I didn’t defend you to Mr. Green, Helga. It’s just, you’re my daughter, and the thought of someone like Alfre – I mean Arnold here doing something like that to you, well, I just lost it is all. Can you forgive me?”

Helga speaks up, the protective wall that Arnold provides gives her the strength to confront her father, “Don’t I always, Dad? Isn’t that how we do this? You jump to conclusions, striking out. I get the brunt of it before you get the facts straight then you come crawling to me asking for forgiveness.”

A look of anger flashes briefly across Bob’s face, Helga ducks behind Arnold as his arms reach back to protect her.

Gaining control of his temper he says, “I know, I’m not going to deny anything. I just want you to know that I am sorry.”

“Fine,” Helga replies, “You’re sorry. Just keep one thing in mind though, Arnold and I are together, and we’re going to stay together no matter what. If push comes to shove you can mark my words that I will choose him over anything else this world has to offer so you might as well get used to him being around.”

Bob looks at Arnold with distaste but agrees to stay out of their business. “Alright, geeze, you have my word, I’ll leave the boy alone. You can be together and I won’t complain.”

“Thank you, sir.” Arnold offers his hand to Bob. Bob looks from it to Arnold then reluctantly shakes it.

“Ok, well, I gotta get going, your mom and I still have some things to discuss.”

At that he leaves the room, grumbling words they can’t make out under his breath.

Letting out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding Helga feels weak at the knees and sits on her bed. 

“We did it. I can’t believe we did it, we stood up to Big Bob.”

Arnold sits next to her and hugs her. “As long as we’re together, we can stand up to anything.”

 

Part 2

 

She gets up from the bed and starts pacing like a tiger stuck in a cage at the zoo. 

“I’ve got to get out of here, I can’t stay here tonight.”

“Then don’t, come to the boarding house, you can stay with me. You can stay as long as you need to, my grandparents will understand.”

She walks up to him and gives him a tight hug. “Thank you, but…” She searches for the right words. “You know I love you, and you know that’s forever. But right now I need to separate myself from what just happened here. I need a neutral place where I can think. Do you understand?”

Trying not to feel rejected he places his forehead to hers. “Yeah, I guess I can see what you mean. I don’t like it, but I understand. Where will you go?”

“I’m thinking of seeing if Phoebe will let me spend a night or two at her place. She’s my best friend, she gets me and I think what I need most right now is a sister, not a lover.”

She goes to pick up her phone and it starts ringing in her hand. She answers it and puts it on speaker.

“Phoebe! I was just starting to call you.”

“Did you get my message? Oh Helga, I hate to tell you this but there’s an ugly rumor…….”

“We know, Pheebs. We already found out.”

“You did, from whom?”

“My father.”

“What!” 

Phoebe listened while Helga gave her a brief rundown of the evening’s events. 

“……So you see, Pheebs, I was wondering if you’d mind if I crashed at your place for a night or two, just till this whole ordeal blows over.”

“Oh Helga, of course you can. I have an idea, Gerald and I are getting ready to go see a movie, why don’t you and Arnold come along. We can have a relaxing night out then Gerald can drop us off at my place.”

Her hand comes up to the welt on her cheek and a feeling of embarrassment hits her. “Well…..I don’t know Pheebs, I don’t know if I’m up for being out in public.”

“Come on, the distraction will do you good, and it will just be the four of us. Think of it as our first double date since you and Arnold became a couple.”

She looks at Arnold who nods his head yes and she agrees to the date.

“Great! Gerald and I will be at your house in twenty minutes.”

Phoebe breaks the connection leaving Helga staring at her phone.

She gives a sigh, “I guess if we’re doing this I should go freshen up.”

Leaving Arnold in her room she heads to the bathroom locking herself in. She walks to the sink and turns on the water. Filling her hands she douses her face letting the cool liquid refresh her. She stares at her reflection in the mirror above the sink. Her eyes are bloodshot and the red welt is slowly turning into a dark crescent across her cheek. Taking her brush she runs it through her long hair, letting it hang lose covering both sides of her face. 

She grabs a few toiletries for her night at Phoebe’s and heads back to her room. She shoves them, along with some clothes into a backpack and she’s ready to go.

Taking Arnold’s hand the two leave her room, passing the kitchen where Big Bob and Miriam are still in deep conversation. She stands in the doorway.

“Arnold and I are going out. I called Phoebe and I’m going to be spending a night or two at her house.” 

Without waiting for an answer they leave the house and wait on her steps and watch for Gerald’s car.

 

Part 3

On the drive to Arnold’s Phoebe fills Gerald in what Helga had told her. Eyes on the road he shakes his head.

“Mmm-mmm-mmm,” he says as he shakes his head in disbelief. “Man, I never knew that life at the Pataki household was that bad. It kinda makes me feel bad for hating her all those years when we were kids. How much of this did you know?”

Phoebe thinks back through the years of her and Helga’s friendship. ”I’d say it was around fifth or sixth grade when I first found out about her dad’s temper. She swore me to silence, so I never said anything to anybody.”

They arrive at Helga’s to find the couple huddled together on the steps, Helga leaning on Arnold as he places small kisses on her forehead. Gerald honks the horn and they get up waving and walking towards the car.

Arnold opens the door for Helga and as she slides in Gerald gets a good look at the bruise on her cheek. His heart hurts for her and he grabs Phoebe’s hand giving it a small squeeze. Phoebe turns from Helga to Gerald and he can see in her eyes the same feeling of sadness for their friend.

Once at the theater they purchase their tickets and head into the lobby. They start walking towards the concession stand and Helga freezes. Following her gaze Arnold sees a small group of their friends. Standing and talking happily are Sheena, Stinky, Harold and Rhonda. 

Helga turns to leave and Arnold grabs her by the hand stopping her.

“Let me go, Arnold, I’m not staying here. I can’t face them.”

Arnold stares her down and says, “Remember what I said in your room, together we can face anything. We face it head on, backs straight and heads up. It’s not like you to run away from a fight Helga.”

Gerald speaks up now. “That’s right Pataki, the Helga I know would storm right over there and take no prisoners.”

She looks at the two boys, then to her best friend who says, “They’re right Helga, you have to meet this thing head on.”

Knowing when she’s beat she squares her shoulders and marches over to their friends.

The small group see the determined foursome walking up to them, Rhonda whispers something and the group lets out a chorus of giggles. 

As Helga approaches Rhonda her embarrassment starts to turn to anger and annoyance and slowly the old Helga G. Pataki starts to come alive again. 

“OH, why it’s Helga and Arnold. You two sure have been scarce these last few days. Are you over your ‘FLU?’ Helga?” The group giggles.

Helga seethes with anger now, but fighting the urge to punch her right there on the spot she mentally counts to ten before speaking and when she does it’s quiet and methodical. 

“I’ve heard the rumors you’ve been spreading about me.” She starts to poke Rhonda in the chest. 

Rhonda takes a small step back. “Ouch, stop it, you’re hurting me.”

“You think this is hurting you? I’ll show you real hurt.” As she raises her fist at Rhonda Arnold quickly grabs her arm and pulls Helga to him.

“No one’s hurting anyone.” Arnold says as he steps between the two. “Rhonda, I think you do owe us an explanation though. Why would you go telling people Helga is pregnant? You don’t know all the trouble you started.”

“Well, it was merely an observation, how was I to know that people would blow it out of proportion like they did. Besides, what’s the harm? No one got hurt. How did you find out anyway?”

“We found out through her DAD, who found out through Mr. Green.” Arnold looks at Harold now who fumbles for an excuse.

“Well, that’s what I was told, how was I supposed to know it was a lie.” Harold whined.

Rhonda lets out a little huff, “Heh, well nothing came of it, right? You’re standing here still with Arnold, so, like I said, what’s the harm?”

Furious at Rhonda, and wanting their friends to understand the weight of their little lie he turns to Helga and gently brushes her hair behind one ear, showing them the bruise on her cheek.

“This, Rhonda, is the harm.”

With tears welling up in her eyes Helga bows her head and stares at the carpet.

“Her dad didn’t think your little lie was very funny either.”

The four friends stare at the bruise and immediately start apologizing, begging Helga for her forgiveness. 

Rhonda steps closer to Helga and places a hand on her shoulder. “Oh Helga, I am so sorry. I never intended for anything like this to happen. Please believe me. I want to make it up to you, what can I do to make it up to you?”

Helga grabs Rhonda’s hand in a tight grip, throwing it off her shoulder and gives her a hard stare. 

“You can start by getting out of my sight and never talking to me again.”

Glaring at the other three she takes Arnold by the hand and pulls him with her towards their movie. Gerald and Phoebe follow leaving the four to stand alone and ashamed.


	13. Chapter 13

Part 1

 

Helga was glad to see that the others had chosen a different movie than the one they were seeing. Looking around she didn’t see anyone they knew so she started to relax. Sitting with Arnold’s arm around her shoulders she leaned into him and let her mind wander. She realized that Phoebe was right, a mind numbing movie was just the thing she needed right now. 

Every so often Gerald would glance over at them, just watching as they interacted with each other. If you had said to him a few years ago that the two would end up together he would have laughed in your face telling you that you were crazy. Arnold and Helga? No way, Jose. Watching them now, though, he could actually feel the love radiating off of them. He was happy for Arnold and silently wished them both many happy years together. 

After the movie the boys suggested they stop for a bite to eat but Helga had had enough for one day so apologized and asked to just be dropped off at Phoebe’s. When they arrived at her house Gerald walked Phoebe to her door while Arnold and Helga stayed in the car. Arnold gave Helga a hug, not wanting to say goodnight. 

“Are you sure this is what you want?” He asked, hoping she’s changed her mind and will come back to the boarding house with him.

“Yes, Arnold, I’m sorry but I just…..”

He breaks off her words with a kiss. His want for her right now is strong but knowing that will have to wait he settles for a few passionate kisses.

As the windows start to steam Gerald opens the driver’s side door and gets in the car.

“Ok you two, time to break it up.”

Pulling away from Helga Arnold gets out of the car and walks her to Phoebe’s door. He pulls her close giving her a tight hug. They kiss one last time before she disappears into the house.

Arnold gets back into the car and the two boys take off.

Gerald is the first to speak. 

“I guess it’s been quite a day for you.”

Arnold chuckles at the understatement. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

“So, you took on Big Bob, huh. You’re balls must be made of titanium.”

“To be honest Gerald, I thought he was going to kill me right there on the spot.”

“It took guts to stand up to him like that.”

“At the time, I didn’t care. I’d give my life for Helga.”

Somehow Gerald had no doubt that he would.

They drove the rest of the way with Arnold recounting the story starting from sitting in the kitchen with Miriam and ending with Phoebe’s phone call in Helga’s bedroom.

Meanwhile Helga lay on a blow up mattress staring at the pattern Phoebe’s bedside lamp made on the ceiling. 

“It was horrible, Pheebs. He just came storming into the house, we had no idea what was going on. When I saw the look on his face I knew trouble was on its way. After he hit me I wanted so desperately to defend Arnold but I froze. I was so scared for him.”

“Well that’s quite understandable, Helga. You would have just gotten hurt even worse. It is kind of romantic how Arnold stood up for you against your dad though.”

Helga’s mind flashed to the two of them in her bedroom when Bob knocked on the door and Arnold stood to protect her. The thought made her miss him.

They were both silent for a bit when Phoebe hesitantly speaks up. “Um, Helga, there really is no way you could be – you know?”

“NO!” Helga practically yells. “No, Pheebs, I’m positive. I admit I was scared after our first time because it was so spur of the moment, but we’re being careful, trust me.”

“Okay, Helga, I figured you were smarter than that.” Phoebe says with a relieved smile.

The two girls lay there talking until they couldn’t keep their eyes open any longer. Just as Helga was drifting off to sleep a text comes in from Arnold telling her how much he loves her and misses her. She shoots him back a quick “I love you more.” Before drifting off to sleep.

 

Part 2

The next morning Helga still isn’t up to facing Big Bob so another day is spent at Phoebe’s. The girls pass the time between watching sappy chick flicks and playing video games. By late afternoon there’s a knock at the door. It’s Gerald with the excuse that he misses Phoebe and thought the girls wouldn’t mind if he hung out for a while.

They sit on the couch, Gerald with a game controller in his hand, periodically glancing over to look at Helga. Phoebe sits next to him, hand on his thigh. Helga sits at the other end of the couch eying Gerald with suspicion. Finally she can’t take it anymore and speaks up.

“Ok Geraldo, I know there’s something you’re not telling us. Spill it, what’s the real reason you’re here?”

“What are you talking about Pataki, I told you, I was missing my main squeeze here and wanted to see her.”

It’s Phoebe’s turn to question him now. “Actually babe, it is kind of strange that you didn’t mention anything about missing me so much in your texts. Besides, you usually let me know when you’re coming over. I think Helga’s right. What’s going on, did Arnold send you over to spy on Helga?”

Realizing he’s been caught he confesses. “Okay, okay, geeze you girls are brutal. I confess, I was sent over to make sure Helga is alright. There, you guys happy now?”

Helga is touched over Arnold’s concern and realizes this must be just as hard on him as it is on her. She looks over to Gerald and with concern in her voice she asks how Arnold’s holding up.

“It’s not good, man.” He starts. “The boy is torn up inside. He’s really worried about you, Helga but doesn’t want to put any pressure on you. He’s like a sick puppy, pining away, all mopey. It’s pathetic.”

Just as Gerald says that Helga gets a text from Arnold. It’s a picture of an empty chair with the caption “Look, I found you another pink teddy bear.” 

The message touches her heart and she thinks lovingly to herself, “Who’s the weirdo now.”

Filled with a sudden desire to be in Arnold’s arms she’s finally ready to leave. She looks at Phoebe with a smile. “I think I’m ready to go home.” She says as she gets up to gather her stuff.

She turns to Gerald. “Thank you for being there for Arnold, you’re a good friend.”

Gerald gets up and gives Helga a hug, taking her by surprise. She hugs him back and in doing so cements a new found friendship between the two of them. 

Before he leaves he looks at Helga and says, “I think I can finally say that I have faith in you and Arnold, I really believe you two are meant to be together. Take care of him, okay.”

“I will.” She says.

Gerald gives Phoebe a goodbye kiss before letting himself out. Helga texts Arnold back telling him she’s ready to go home. Arnold talks her in to coming to the boarding house first and tells her he’s coming to get her and Helga readies herself to face life again.

 

Part 3

In order to avoid explaining himself to everyone at the boarding house Arnold slips out using the fire escape. He runs the couple blocks to Phoebe’s and stands on the doorstep out of breath. The first time he knocks there’s no answer but as he’s getting ready to knock a second time Phoebe swings the door open. He says hi to Phoebe as he looks over her shoulder, his eyes searching for Helga. 

He finally spies her as she’s coming out of Phoebe’s bedroom. He walks to her and gives her a giant bear hug. She giggles as he picks her up and swings her around before giving her deep, lingering kiss. 

“Alright guys,” Phoebe breaks in, “save it for Arnold’s house.”

They laugh as they walk up to her. Helga gives her a huge hug.

“Thanks for everything Phoebe, you’re always there when I need you the most. You really are my best friend.”

“And you are mine. Now, excuse me for rushing you off but I have a date to get ready for.”

Giving her one last hug each Helga and Arnold head off to the boarding house.

They hold hands as they slowly walk.

“I saw Rhonda earlier today.” Arnold says, “She asked me to tell you that she really is sorry for everything and that she takes full blame for it.”

“Heh, well she should!” Helga blurts out. “I don’t know if I’ll ever really be able to forgive her for what she did.”

“Well, I don’t know, Helga, it really was just Rhonda being Rhonda. She didn’t purposely set out to ruin your reputation or anything. She was just doing what she does, butting in to people’s lives and spreading rumors. Who knows, maybe this whole ordeal has finally taught her a lesson.”

“Only you, Arnoldo, can turn something like this around and make it seem like a good thing.”

“Well, don’t go totally writing her off just yet. Give her a chance.”

“Perhaps in time I will but for the time being I think I may just let her sweat it out for a while.”

They reach the boarding house and decide to enter Arnold’s room the way he left it. Once on the roof Helga walks to look out over the city. They watch the setting sun as it bathes the city in an orange hue. After a bit Arnold takes her by the hand and leads her towards his room.

Once inside he turns the lock on his door then walks up to her, placing his hands to her face. He bends down and kisses her as she starts to unbutton his shirt. He picks her up and carries her to the bed, placing her down gently. His need for her rises as their clothes disappear piece by piece. 

As he trails kisses down her neck she whispers, “I’m sorry for whatever I’ve put you through the last couple of days. I hope you understand why I needed the time.

He kisses her deeply, and spends the next hour showing her just how much he understands.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I just have to ask. What did you guys think of TJM? We loved it over here. Favorite quote: "I don't know, I think your heart is more pure than you know." Sooooo sweet!

Part 1

Helga wakes up the next morning wrapped up in Arnold’s arms. She feels safe as she runs a hand up and down his forearm. He has one leg thrown over her and she snuggles in close to him. She wishes every morning could start like this and she continues to rub the arm that surrounds her. Arnold starts to stir against her as he slowly wakes up. He mumbles a sleepy “good morning” into her neck as he nuzzles her bringing a smile to her face. He holds her tighter and she lets out a small moan as his hard body rubs against her.

Sometime later, after they’ve finished saying their good mornings to each other, Helga sits on the edge of the bed, dressed and brushing her hair. It’s Sunday, the only day of the week her dad is not at his store. Knowing she can’t put it off forever she packs up her backpack.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Arnold asks her as he comes up behind her and puts his arms around her.

She leans back towards him and sighs. “Well, I have to face them sooner or later. Besides, the sooner I get this over with the sooner I can just move on.”

“Do you want me to go with you?”

“Ohhh, no. No I don’t think that’s a good idea. Give it a few more days.”

“I’m not scared of your dad, Helga.”

“I know, you proved that the other day.”

She turns to face him now, holding on to his hands. “Let’s just do this one step at a time, okay. Give it a day or two for things at the house to calm down, then you can start coming around again. Trust me on this one Arnold.”

Reluctantly he relents and they head to the roof where she can leave, unnoticed by the residents of the house.

Reaching the street they say good-bye before she turns and makes her way towards home.

She walks slowly on her way home from the boarding house, lost in her thoughts when she hears a familiar voice.

“Hey, Helga, wait up!”

She turns and with happy surprise she yells, “Eugene!”

The two meet in a friendly hug. 

“So, you’re home from theatre camp already? That was a fast two months. How was it this year?” Helga asked with genuine interest. 

With a faraway look in his eye and big smile on his face Eugene replied, “It was wonderful Helga.”

Helga eyed him suspiciously. “You met someone, didn’t you!”

Blushing and watching his feet as he walked he said through a sigh, “Yeah, I guess I did.”

“I knew it! You have that special look about you. Ok, fess up, what’s his name? How’d you meet? Is it just a summer fling or is it serious?”

They come up to Helga’s house now and sit on the front steps. 

“Well, his name is David, we met around the second or third day of camp. We were in the same improvisation workshop and got matched up to do a scene together. We became friends and, well, the friendship just grew. It turns out he lives in Oregon, which really isn’t that far away so I’m hoping it ends up lasting.”

Truly happy for him Helga puts her hand on his shoulder and says, “I really hope it works out, Eugene. You deserve it.”

He looks at her, touched by her words of encouragement. He thinks about how strange it is for the two of them to be sitting here talking like this, Helga never really thought of him as a friend when they were kids. Things changed over the years since PS 118 though and their friendship grew to a place where they were good support for each other. When they hit high school Helga would even go so far as to take on anyone that felt the need to give Eugene a hard time.

“Thanks, Helga, I appreciate it. Ummm, I heard about what’s been going on here while I was away. I’m so happy for you and Arnold, I think you two are perfect for each other. I can see you together for a long time.” He pauses for a moment before continuing.

“I, um, also heard about the rumor that was going around about you guys.”

“Wow, we must be big news for it to travel all the way across the country like that. How did you find out?”

“Sheena and I have been keeping in touch over the summer. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

Helga kicks at a small rock and sends it sailing across the street as she says a little bitterly, “Yeah, well, as they say, that which does not kill you only makes you stronger, right?”

“That’s what they say, but it still doesn’t take away the pain. As you know, over the years I’ve been the butt of some pretty savage gossip and teasing but you know what, with time, it blows over and life goes on. You just have to be strong and weather the storm.”

Helga looks at Eugene now and he gives her a gentle hug as he says, “I just don’t want to see this come between you and Arnold. You both are strong people, just hold your heads up and let people see that you’re bigger than this. Stand strong, Helga.”

It’s Helga’s turn to hug Eugene now and she does so with a smile.

“Thank you, Eugene, you don’t know how much I needed to hear that.”

“Anytime, Helga. Now, I should be getting along. It was good seeing you.”

“Yeah, good seeing you too.”

They give each other a quick good-bye hug and Helga stands on the steps watching Eugene take off with a slight skip to his walk. She turns to the front door and with shoulders squared she’s now prepared to take life back on full force.

 

Part 2

Helga wasn’t the only one that benefited from taking a couple of days to cool off. With an empty house it gave her parents time to talk and evaluate just where they were in life right now. The question of how their lives ended up like they have come up several times in their discussions. 

Miriam didn’t always take such a disinterest in life. When she was younger she was a straight A student with an active social life. She was athletic and always at the top of her game. She had ambition and as she got older she always saw herself as a career woman. She did these things because she loved a challenge, it made her feel alive and strong.

Unfortunately marriage had changed that for her. Bob was the type of man that felt a wife’s place was in the home raising the kids and put his foot down about her not having a job outside the home. She felt she had been sentenced to a life of drudgery and chore. It was putting up with this year after year that led her to turn to drink. It wasn’t that she needed to drink, it was more of a way to deal with the stifling boredom. 

For Bob, though, it wasn’t the challenge that prompted him to excel, it was an overbearing father. As a child Bob was constantly ridden to be the best at what he did. As far as grades went, B’s were not in his father’s vocabulary. It had to be A’s or nothing. In his dad’s eyes, if Bob did poorly on a test it wasn’t because it was challenging for him, it was because he was lazy and stupid. 

His father also ruled the house with an iron fist. His word was law and if you broke that law it was his hands that made sure you didn’t do it again.

It took the fight in the kitchen to finally snap Miriam out of her comatose state. Seeing Arnold stand up to Bob fueled a fire within her, giving her the push she needed to gain control of the situation. No longer was she going to put up with Bob’s overbearing disposition. So when Helga announced that she was going to be spending some time at Phoebe’s house she used the opportunity to do what she could to save their drowning family.

After much convincing Bob agreed to put his pride aside and try family counseling, but in order for it to work they would need both their daughters to commit to it too. She had already called Olga who agreed to do what she could long distance, it was just Helga now that needed to come on board.

 

Part 3

After saying good-bye to Eugene Helga silently entered the house. She could hear quiet conversation coming from the living room. Walking towards the voices she stood in the doorway. It took all her strength to make her voice sound strong.

“Just in case anyone’s interested I thought I’d let you know that I’m home.”

Hearing her voice both parents got up and walked over to her. Miriam was the first to give her a tight hug. 

Normally whenever Helga would return home she would be greeted with disinterest so having her mother actually get up and hug her piqued her suspicions, and she was really blown away when Bob not only referred to her as “Helga”, but wrapped her in a bear hug too. 

“Okay,” she started, “What’s with the Brady Bunch greeting? What’s going on?”

Miriam ushered her to the couch where they could sit and talk and she was the first to speak up.

“Helga, while you were at Phoebe’s your father and I took the time to discuss our relationship as a family.” She looked over to Bob who was sitting quietly. Discussing things like his personal feelings and short comings was always hard for him. “We realize we’re not the perfect family and that it must have been hard for you growing up with a mentally absentee mother and an overbearing father.”

Bob started to take issue with the term “overbearing” but one glare from Miriam had him once again sitting quietly.

“As I was saying, I take full responsibility for not providing you with the type of nurturing a young girl needs as she’s growing up and I hope you can forgive me.”

Tears start to run down Helga’s cheeks as she sits and silently listens to what her parents have to say.

Miriam cleared her throat and looked at Bob, which he took as his que to speak.

“Uh – well, you know I’m not good at this kind of stuff but, I guess I can see where I may not have been the best father a kid could have. Maybe I have spent too much of my time with work and not enough on you and, I, uh, just want to say I’m sorry.”

Hearing Big Bob grovel like that caught Helga off guard. So much was running through her head she was unable to fully grasp on to any one emotion.

And so the afternoon went on into early evening. They had a long discussion, both her parents sharing their feelings of how the family came to be in such a dysfunctional state. Each one taking blame for their respective roles. After a while Helga joined in the conversation, laying out her feelings of neglect and abuse. It was cathartic and by the end of their conversation all three of them felt as if weights had been lifted off their shoulders. 

Then subject of family therapy came up. Helga was reluctant at first but then remembered how helpful Dr. Bliss had been when she was in the fourth grade and thought she might consider it. After all, if Big Bob agreed to it then maybe it might actually do some good.

After a long pause Helga finally spoke up.

“Well, all I’ll say right now is that I’ll seriously consider family therapy but I’m not promising anything.”

With that she got up but before leaving the room she said, speaking mostly to her dad, “I just want to say one last thing. As I’ve said before, Arnold is a very important part of my life now. We are together and we plan on staying together. That means he will be spending time at this house and I don’t want him treated as an outsider anymore. I want him accepted as a part of this family.”

Miriam, of course, was thrilled. Bob reluctantly agreed and said he’ll work on being more cordial to the boy. Helga figured that this is probably the best she’s going to get out of Bob so is satisfied and heads off to her room.

Upon taking her cell phone out of her backpack she saw she had received multiple text and voice mail messages. 

Arnoldo: Hey, just checking to see how it’s going. Is everything okay? I love you.  
Arnoldo: So, what’s going on? Are you okay? Text me back. I miss you.  
Arnoldo: Why aren’t you texting me back? Bob didn’t hit you again did he? TEXT ME.  
Arnoldo: If I don’t hear from you soon I’m coming over there! I love you, CALL ME!  
Arnoldo: ?????

Rhonda: I just want to say again how sorry I am. Can you forgive me?

Phoebe: How’d it go with your folks? Is everything okay? Call me.

Turning her phone off she headed for the bathroom hoping that a hot shower would help to clear her head. She grabs the shampoo and starts massaging the suds it makes into her scalp. As she rinses it out she just stands under the falling water, eyes closed, hands on the tile wall in front of her. Her shoulders begin to shake as she starts to sob. It’s a good, cleansing cry filled with mixed emotions, which leaves her exhausted. 

Stepping out of the shower she looks at her reflection in the mirror as she dries off. The bruise on her cheek luckily didn’t get as purple as she had feared and with a little make-up it should be hardly noticeable. When she’s finally dried and dressed she heads to her bedroom. She climbs into bed and turns her phone back on. One last message from Arnold pops up.

Arnoldo: Hey, I tried calling you but it keeps going to voicemail. I guess your phones not on  
Or something. Well, call me when you get this. I love you, Helga. 

She thinks about calling him but decides she’s not yet ready to talk to anyone so she shoots him a text before turning her phone off.

ME: I love you more. I’ll call you tomorrow. 

 

Even though it is still relatively early she is exhausted. She turns out the light on her nightstand and after a few minutes she is fast asleep, images of Arnold run through her head.


	15. Chapter 15

Part 1

 

Helga wakes up just as the sun starts to peek up over the horizon. It casts a muted glow as its light shines through the curtains covering her window. There are a few birds singing brightly helping to usher in the day. She studies the ceiling as thoughts of the last few days run through her mind. 

If she had ever needed proof of Arnold’s love for her she got it when he, with no regard to his own safety, put himself between her and her father’s fury. At the time she was afraid that she would lose him over what happened but instead it brought them closer then she could have ever imagined. 

She thought of her mother, gathering her courage to finally stand up to her husband, proving that there was a strength to her that the numbing effects of her smoothie habit kept at bay. Helga had a feeling that was no longer going to be the case and that they may see more of the newer, stronger Miriam.

Then there was her father. Her overbearing, domineering, “Because I say so” type of father whose motto was “react first, ask questions later”. She knows he does have a softer side to him, she’s seen it every now and then, but he always tries to cover it up. Was he serious about going to counseling? That was something she’d have to see to believe.

Lastly there was Rhonda, the cause of all the trouble. What she did was unforgivable so Helga felt she really did have the right to not accept her apologies. The only problem there was that she knew Arnold most likely would do his best to persuade her to forgive Rhonda. What she wanted to do was to pound her into the ground like a tent stake but that wouldn’t undo any of the damage she’s caused so instead she’d have to settle for just making her life miserable. The thought of Rhonda’s misery brought a smile to her face. Yes, she could live with that. 

Her stomach started to grumble so she figured she’d head downstairs and look for something to eat. When she got to the kitchen she saw Miriam sitting at the table with a hot mug of coffee in her hands. Her mom gave her a smile as she joined her at the table.

“Good morning, Helga, how are you this morning? Did you sleep well?”

“Actually, I slept like a log. Last thing I remember is turning off my phone then it was morning.”

Miriam gave Helga a sincere look, “You know, Helga, I want you to know that I meant what I said about becoming a better mother to you.”

Like her dad, Helga was always uncomfortable talking about her feelings so she kept her answer short. "I know, I would like us to have a better relationship too.”

Miriam’s face brightened at Helga’s response and she said through a smile, “Well, school will be starting up soon, senior year, that’s a big one. How about we take a day sometime this week and go clothes shopping? We’ll shop for a whole new senior year wardrobe.” 

It touched Helga to see how hard her mom was trying so she agreed that a day at the mall would be fun. “Ok, sure, let’s do it soon.” 

They talked comfortably over breakfast, Big Bob eventually coming downstairs to join them. 

When she was done eating she excused herself to her room. She turned on her phone trying to decide who she should call first. 

There was a call from Rhonda asking her to give her a call back but she decided to let Rhonda sweat it out a little more so ignored her message. She really wanted to see Arnold in person so she dialed Phoebe but was disappointed when her call went to voicemail. She left a message saying she’d call back later.

Getting dressed she decided to surprise Arnold and just show up without calling so saying a quick good-bye to her parents she headed towards the boarding house. 

 

Part 2

It was one of those perfect summer mornings. The air was warm with a light breeze. The sun felt good on her back as she walked, the sky a clear, cloudless blue. It was still a bit on the early side so the city was just beginning to wake up. She turned the corner and the boarding house came into view. She thought about all those years as kids, sitting on the stoop on those hot summer afternoons, eating Mr. Fudgie bars from the Jolly Olly Man’s truck. Arnold’s grandfather coming out on occasion and telling them far-fetched stories about ghost trains and the like. She walked up those steps now, anxious to see the boy that was always at the center of all those memories, and gave the door a hearty knock. 

It had been a long night for Arnold as he lay in bed tossing and turning unable to get Helga out of his mind. It was killing him to not know what had gone on at Helga’s house once she got home. He had to keep reassuring himself that if anything bad had happened she would have called. 

Once he finally did fall asleep his dreams were haunted with Helga’s voice, always calling out to him for help. He would search for her, but her disembodied voice surrounded him with no direction until finally he sees her, standing at the top of the jumping rock where he first told her he loved her. She was standing with her father who was grabbing on to her upper arm. She was yelling for him as her father started to pull her to the far edge of the rock. Arnold ran up the trail that led to the top of the rock. He reached the top just in time to see Helga struggling to get away from her father. He ran to her calling her name but was too late. Helga had fallen off the rock as she pulled herself out of her father’s grasp, and went falling into the dark river below. Arnold could hear Bob’s manic laugh as he pushed past him and jumped in after her. He was falling for what felt like an eternity. The water was ice cold and when he finally hit it, the air got knocked out of him. He instinctively took a breath in but instead of air it was water that filled his lungs. 

He woke up in a panic, bolting upright, his hands at his throat. He sat in his bed breathing heavily as he slowly realized that he was in his room. He laid back down waiting for his heart to stop racing. He was even more exhausted now than when he first fell asleep. Gauging from the sun that was shining through his windows he decided there was no use to try to go back to sleep so he rolled over and pulled his phone from his shelf hoping to find a new message from Helga. Disappointed by the fact that she had not tried to call him he rolled out of bed and headed downstairs.

He had just reached the bottom step and was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes when there was a knock at the door. 

“I’ll get it.” He yelled through a yawn.

As he opened the door it took a moment for his brain to register who it was on the other side. 

“Well, are you going to let me in?” Helga said with a smile.

Arnold’s eyes opened wide when he saw her. “HELGA!” he yelled as he picked her up into a tight hug. 

She laughed as he swung her around pulling her into the house.

“What are you doing here?” he said between kisses. “Why didn’t you call and let me know you were coming over?”

“I wanted to surprise you, Doi.”

Hearing the commotion at the door Arnold’s grandfather came over to investigate. When he saw Helga he said through a chuckle, “Well if it isn’t Arnold’s little girlfriend. Come on in to the kitchen and join us.”

Arnold and Helga walked arm in arm as they followed Phil. Arnold’s grandmother was at the stove making Arnold’s favorite pancakes. When Gertie saw Helga she came up to her and gave her a warm hug. Her voice was soft when she spoke.

“Oh Helga, it’s so good to see you.”

It caught both Helga and Arnold by surprise to hear Gertie use her correct name. 

Gertie looked Helga in the eye now and said, “Arnold told us about everything that’s gone on over the last few days and Phil and I just want you to know that there will always be a place for you here if the need should ever arise.”

Touched Helga thanked Arnold’s grandparents and told them she’d keep that in mind.

Having already eaten breakfast Helga declined Gertie’s offer of pancakes and settled for a glass of juice. As the four sat around the table Arnold’s grandparents couldn’t help but notice how the young love birds couldn’t keep their eyes off of each other. 

When Arnold finished eating the two headed to his room. As they left the kitchen Phil put his arm around his wife’s waist and said, “Yep Pookie, if you ask me, I’d say we’re looking at the future Mr. and Mrs. Shortman.”

 

Part 3

When they reach Arnold’s room he closes the door and pulls Helga into a hug, dipping her backwards leaning in to give her a huge kiss. As he pulls her back up they smile at each other both glad to be together again.

Giving a little sniff Helga crinkles her nose before teasing Arnold, “Phew, when was the last time you showered Hair Boy? You smell like the docks when the fishing boats come in.”

“Heh, I was too busy worrying about you to think about things like showering. You don’t like the smell?” He says as he shoves his armpit into her nose.

“Criminy, you could take down an army with that stink.”

“Alright, I get the hint. Give me ten minutes and I’ll be fresh as a daisy.” He says, then adds as he raises an eyebrow, “unless you want to join me?”

“Yeah, right, no, I think I’ll sit this one out. I’ll wait for you here. Just don’t take too long.”

“Okay.” Arnold says. He grabs some clean clothes, gives her a quick kiss and heads downstairs to the bathroom.

Helga decides it’s too nice a day to spend it waiting in his room so she climbs out his ceiling window to the roof top. She people watches as she lets her mind wander.

Looking down the street she follows the people down below as they go about their day. Every so often someone would turn into Mr. Green’s meat shop. They’d go in empty handed and a few minutes later they’d return to the sidewalk with their purchase in hand, neatly wrapped in brown butcher paper.

She saw Mrs. Vitello as she arranged the flowers outside her store. Harold’s mother came walking past, she stops and the two ladies talk for a bit then Mrs. Vitello hands her a fresh daisy as they say their good-byes. 

Her phone goes off and it’s Rhonda with one of her many apology texts.

Rhonda: Hey Helga, I was thinking it’d be nice if we got together for a nice fancy dinner. Just   
The two of us at, say, Che Paris? My treat, of course, we can talk. It’ll be fun. What  
Do you say?

At first she thinks to ignore the text but then she changes her mind.

Me: Rhonda? I’m sorry, I don’t think I know any Rhondas. You must have the wrong  
Number.

Rhonda: Oh come on, Helga, you know good and well who this is!

Satisfied that she’s yanked Rhonda’s chain she ignores the next couple texts from her.

She looks back out over the city and a couple of blocks down she sees Wolfgang’s souped up Chevy as it runs a red light. She thought he had had his license taken away after the street race incident and figured it was just like him to do something stupid like breaking driving laws without a license. 

Arnold finishes his shower and goes up to his room expecting Helga to be there. He looks around when he doesn’t see her and notices the open window leading to the roof. He climbs up and sees Helga. He chuckles to himself as he thinks back to when they were kids and how Helga always found it funny to drop spit wads at the passersby down below, then duck and take cover leaving whoever was standing next to her to take the blame. Most times that would have been Harold. 

He quietly approaches her now, wrapping his arms around her as he stands behind her. She smiles and leans back against him. He rests his cheek on her head and she takes in a deep breath. “Ahhh,” she thinks to herself, “there’s that scent I love so much.”

“So,” Arnold says, “I want to hear everything that went on when you got home yesterday.”

“It was weird,” she begins. “I walked in expecting a fight but they surprised me. They were all lovey dovey and apologetic.”

“Heh, well they should be! I mean, at least your dad should be.”

“Yeah, but it went deeper than just the fight. They were apologetic about everything. About being lousy parents, and how unfairly they treated me as a kid. I didn’t know what to think at first.”

It made Arnold happy to hear her parents finally stepping up and admitting their mistakes.

Helga paused for a bit and Arnold patiently waited for her to continue. She wasn’t sure if she should mention about the family therapy or not but decided she should be totally honest with him.

“The subject of family therapy came up.”

It surprised Arnold and made him chuckle internally to think of Bob sitting on a therapists couch spilling his guts. “Your dad agreed to that?”

“Yeah, he actually did. I was the one who hesitated at first but then I thought back to when I was a kid and saw Dr. Bliss for a while. She helped me work through a lot of stuff so I figured what the heck, it might be a good thing for all of us.”

“I didn’t know you went to therapy when we were kids. When was this?”

Helga forgot that the only person who knew about her sessions with Dr. Bliss was Phoebe and she kicked herself for mentioning it.

“Oh, uh, well, it was back around the fourth grade. I was having a really hard time with, umm, things, and, well…..”

“Wait, was it after that time that that psychologist came and observed our class?”

“Yeah.” Was all Helga would say. Although she wanted to be completely honest with Arnold she really didn’t want him to know that one of the reasons she was seeing Dr. Bliss was because of her constant taunts on him, so she decided to just skip over that little fact for now.

“Anyway, like I said, she helped me work through some stuff so that’s why I guess I’m agreeing to do this with my parents.”

“That’s great, Helga, I think you’ll be happy you did in the long run.”

She turns and gives him a hard glare, “Yeah, well, just don’t go blabbing it around to anybody, okay?”

He smiles as he hugs her and says, “Whatever you say, Helga.”

Arnold’s phone goes off and it’s Gerald trying to get up enough people for a game of baseball. Arnold looks at Helga asking her if she wants to go. At first she’s hesitant. This will be the first time the two of them will be around everybody since Rhonda started the rumor about them. 

Arnold brings up the fact that they are both going to have to face everyone eventually. Admitting that he’s right Helga agrees to go. Arnold quickly runs to his bedroom to grab his mitt then the two take the fire escape down to the street and head off to Gerald’s Field.


	16. Chapter 16

Part 1

 

Before reaching Gerald’s Field they make a detour to Helga’s house so she can pick up her catcher’s mask and mitt. Arnold was nervous to enter the house at first but then remembered that Bob would be at work. He was still too mad at him despite Bob’s claims of going to counseling and wasn’t sure he could be cordial to him and the last thing he wanted was to have another fight break out. 

When they enter the house it’s Miriam that’s there to greet them. 

“Why Arnold,” she says as she approaches him and gives him a hug, “it’s so good to see you.”

Arnold looks over Miriam’s shoulder to Helga with a “What’s going on” sort of look which makes her giggle. This was the first time Miriam’s ever just walked up to him like that and it threw him off guard a bit.

Instead of directing Miriam away from Arnold Helga gives him a devious smile then turns her attention to her mom.

“We just stopped by to get my catcher’s mitt and face mask, I’m sure Arnold would love to chat with you, I won’t be but a minute.”

She runs upstairs to her room laughing, ignoring Arnold’s “I’ll get you for this” look.

“Please, come in and sit down.” Miriam says as she leads him into the family room. 

Arnold sits there, his hands fidgeting nervously in his lap, swearing to himself that he’s going to make Helga pay for abandoning him like this.

Miriam sits next to him and gives him a concerned look. “I’m so sorry for Bob’s behavior the other night. He was way out of line. I just want you to know that I support you and Helga 100% and I will make sure nothing like that ever happens again.”

“Well, at least one of Helga’s parents support us.” Arnold thinks to himself as he gives Miriam what he hopes comes off as a heartfelt thanks. 

“I also want you to feel welcomed in this house and stop by any time you want.”

“I appreciate that.” Arnold says as he desperately searches for any sign of Helga.

Finally she comes bounding down the stairs, mask and glove in hand. She had thrown her hair up in a ponytail and changed into some jeans and an old T-shirt. She hugs her mom good-bye as the two make a quick exit.

“I’ll get you for that.” Arnold says as he playfully pulls on Helga’s ponytail. 

“Oh yeah? I’m sooo scared.”

They have fun teasing back and forth as they walk but when they reach the field and see all their friends they grow quiet. Helga throws up her defensive wall and her whole demeanor changes. The gruff tomboy in her comes out and she silently dares anyone to try to start something with her. 

Arnold sees the look in her eye and hopes the day goes off without incident.

 

Part 2

The gang stands around the field talking as they wait for Helga and Arnold to arrive. As word spread of the trouble Rhonda’s little rumor caused each person couldn’t help but to feel guilty for their part in perpetuating the lie. The only friends free of guilt were Phoebe and Gerald because they were never let in on it, Lila because she chose not to believe it and Eugene because he was clear across the country when it started. Most of the finger pointing though was directed at Rhonda for even hinting about it in the first place. 

“Awww, it’s all your fault, Rhonda.” Whined Harold, “You’re the one who started it and now we all look bad for believing it.”

“Well,” Rhonda countered, “It’s not like I forced anyone into continuing to talk about it. You all have minds of your own you know. You could have kept your mouth shut.”

“Now, everyone,” Lila breaks in trying to play mediator, “I’m oh so sure no one purposely wanted things to end up like they did.”

“Everyone, shhhh, here they come!” Says Sheena as she sees the objects of their discussion come walking towards them. 

Helga and Arnold hold hands as they approach, their expressions are hard to read. As they come up to the group they stop and look at each one of them, staring them down. Most of the group diverts their eyes, their faces reddening in shame for how they treated their friends. 

Rhonda is the first to step forward and speak.

“I – I just want to say again how sorry I am for any trouble I may have caused the two of you. It was a childish thing to do. I don’t even know why I’d think it would be funny. I just hope you’ll both forgive me.”

One by one the small group took their turn at apologizing. Helga just stood there, silent as Arnold spoke.

Looking at Rhonda he says, “I hope you’ve learned a lesson from this and will think twice before starting any other rumors.”

“Oh I certainly have learned my lesson Arnold, believe me.” Rhonda quickly replies.

The group turns to Helga waiting for her to speak and when she does all she says is, “Are we playing ball or what?”

Relieved that she didn’t go all crazy on them they relax and start breaking in to teams.

As usual Helga takes charge of the group. “Okay, these are the teams. Harold and I are team captains, Rhonda, Nadine, Curly, Eugene, Chocolate Boy, Lorenzo and Lila are on Harold’s team, the rest of you are on mine. Torvald, you’re our pitcher, I’ll catch. Gerald, you take third, Phoebe second and Patty first. Arnold take shortstop and Sheena and Brainy are our fielders.”

They flip a coin to see who bats first. Harold’s team wins the toss and Helga’s takes their positions on the field.

The game starts and when it’s Rhonda’s turn at bat she tries once again to get Helga to forgive her. 

Helga gives her a hidden smirk behind her catcher’s mask and all she’ll say is “Steee-rike One! As Torvald sends a fast one over the plate.  
The game continues on for the next few hours until it’s finally the bottom of the ninth with Helga’s team at bat. The score is tied with two outs. Arnold is on second when Helga steps up to bat. 

Harold winds up and pitches one high and outside the strike zone. Ball one.

Helga heckles him, “Pink Boy couldn’t even hit the side of a barn!”

Harold glares at Helga while watching the signals Rhonda is giving him. With a nod of his head he gets ready for the second pitch. As he winds up Arnold steals third, Harold throws a curve ball and Helga swings and misses.

A little nervous Rhonda says, “Sorry Helga, but Steee-rike One!”

Helga gives a little growl and turns her attention back to Harold.

The third pitch is fast and right in the strike zone. Helga swings the bat backwards then brings it forward with all her might. The bat connects with the ball which shoots out over Harold’s head deep into center field where Eugene stands waiting.

“I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” Eugene yells. The ball falls through his hands. Eugene looks down at it just as it rebounds off the dirt and bounces up right into his face. You can hear him yell out “I’m okay” as Curly runs in to get the loose ball.

By now Arnold has run home and Helga has passed second base and is headed to third.

Curly throws the ball to Harold.

As Helga rounds third Harold catches the ball and turns to throw it to Rhonda at home plate.

Helga now has Rhonda in her sights.

Rhonda is braced at home plate almost blocking it.

As Helga nears she lowers her head and leading with her shoulder charges Rhonda, practically tackling her in a half jump, half slide over home plate. The two girls go down and roll twice, the ball rolling in the opposite direction. 

When they finally come to a stop with Helga on top she puts her hand on Rhonda’s head grinding her face into the dirt as she stands up. Wiping the dirt off her shirt Helga looks down at Rhonda who is looking back up at her, stunned, and she says, “Now I forgive you.”

Helga slowly walks back to her cheering teammates.

Arnold gives her a “wasn’t that a bit much” look as she plants a kiss on his cheek and walks by with a satisfied smile on her face and thinks to herself, “I’mmm baaaack.” 

 

Part 3

After the game the kids dispersed breaking off into several groups, each with their own plans for the night. 

“So,” Arnold asked Gerald and Phoebe, “what are you guys up to now?”

Gerald looked at Phoebe who just shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, you got any suggestions?”

With no one coming up with anything better to do the four decided to head to the boarding house. As they walked Helga and Phoebe took up the lead engaging in light chit chat with the boys walking in back of them. Arnold couldn’t take his eyes off Helga. He was mesmerized by the up and down motion of her jean pockets, and the swing of her ponytail as she walked. Gerald noticed the look on his face and couldn’t help but chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” Arnold asked still tracking Helga’s pockets with his eyes.

“You are, my friend.”

At that Arnold finally tears his gaze from Helga and gives Gerald a questioning look. “Me? How so?”

“I just think it funny is all, after all these years here you are totally gaga over the girl who used to torment you to no end as a kid. I’m still just trying to figure it all out I guess.”

“Yeah, I guess I know what you mean, but I always did say there was a softer side to Helga. No one ever believed me though, but I knew.”

As they neared the boarding house they heard what sounded like piano music drifting towards them. They looked up and saw the house’s residents on the roof top.

“It looks like a party.” Phoebe commented as the guys caught up with her and Helga. 

“Yeah, it does, let’s go check it out.” Arnold said as he headed for the fire escape.

As the four reached the roof they were greeted by Arnold’s grandfather. His grandmother sat playing the piano which explained the music they heard and all the residents were scattered about talking and eating. There was a table filled with various pot luck type foods and desserts. Small, white Christmas lights were strung about, their twinkle casting a soft glow on everything. 

The four friends filled some plates with food and sat in a corner on the ground happily talking. 

“I can’t believe it’s already Labor Day next weekend,” Arnold said through a bite of potato salad. “That means summer will be officially over.”

Helga gives his leg a light kick with her foot, “Way to spoil the mood Arnoldo. We still have one week left and I intend to make the most of it.”

“I know,” Phoebe replied back, “but just think, we’re finally going to be seniors! It will be our turn to rule the campus.”

Helga looked at Phoebe and said jokingly, “Girl, I’ve ruled the campus since PS 118 so that’s nothing new to me.”

They all looked at her rolling their eyes and laughing.

After a bit they noticed that the party must have broken up as they were talking because they were now the only people left on the roof top.

Wanting to try to get some alone time with Phoebe before she had to be home Gerald got up and commented on the time.

“It’s starting to get late,” He said, looking at his girlfriend.

Catching the look in his eye Phoebe agreed and saying a quick good night the two made their way back down the fire escape.

Helga watched the couple make their way down the street as Arnold came up behind her. He slips his arms around her waist and starts nibbling on her neck, the memory of how her pockets rocked up and down as she walked earlier filled his mind. Leaning back against him she could feel his want for her. She turns to face him, his stare is so intense it brings a catch to her breath. He leans in and kisses her deeply, his tongue searching for hers. 

They break apart and make their way to his room. With all the time she’s spent there over the summer it’s become a familiar place to her and she’s comfortable as they sit on his bed slowly removing each other’s clothes between kisses. 

She lays on top of him, pulling the covers up over their bodies as she snuggles down. She presses her nose to his and says, “I really should be getting home later so we have to watch the time.”

He runs his hands up and down her back, “You should tell your parents you’ve decided to move out and come live here.”

“Riiiight, that’d go over like a lead balloon.”

“Well, it was worth a try, right?”

“Whatever you say Hair Boy.” She says as she trails kisses from his forehead to his neck where she stops to nibble for a bit before trailing more kisses down his chest, disappearing under the covers. She continues downward, his fingers tangle in her hair and he lets out a long moan as her lips meet their intended target.

The twinkling lights from up on the roof blink like fireflies above them. They lose track of time and she’s going to have to text Phoebe in the morning to be her alibi for her not coming home.


	17. Chapter 17

Part 1

 

She awakens to the early morning sun shining through the rooftop windows. She looks around disoriented then slaps her hand to her forehead.

“Criminy, not again.” She swore she’d keep a better eye on the time last night but instead she fell asleep in Arnold’s arms. “Gahhhh! I just wanted to rest my eyes for a minute!”

She looks at the clock, 5:30 in the morning it says. “Okay, it’s still early, this could work. If I leave now….” 

She starts to get out of bed but sees Arnold’s grandfather on the roof cleaning up from last night’s party. “Dammit, doesn’t anybody sleep around here!”

Phil turns to put some dirty paper plates in a trash bag, he happens to glance down into Arnold’s room and spies Helga through the windows. He gives her a smile and waves. His bouncing shoulders show that he’s laughing as he turns and walks away with the trash bag. Helga throws the covers over her head and elbows Arnold hard in his stomach.

Arnold startles awake with a “Huh, what? What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong, Arnoldo, is that you let me fall asleep last night when you knew I needed to go home. Plus your grandfather just saw us through your windows!”

Arnold finds the humor in being found out again by his grandfather and smiles. “Well, I couldn’t help it, it was just so comfortable next to you, besides, it’s not like my grandparents don’t know about us.” He reaches out and tries to pull her closer to him. “Now come here and give me a proper good morning.”

Helga pushes out of his arms and checks to make sure Phil is gone before getting out of bed.

“Oh hell no, lover boy, not with your grandfather lurking around. Besides, if I hurry I think I can still make it back to my house before my parents realize I’m not there.”

Defeated Arnold rolls out of bed and pulls on his boxers and jeans. “Party pooper.” He teases. “I’ll walk you home, I want to be close by in case your dad sees you sneaking in and goes ballistic or something.”

Not wanting to admit that she was a little concerned about something like that happening too she says, “Whatever floats your boat,” as she finishes dressing.

They make it down his stairs and to the front door without running in to anyone but when they open the door they see Phil walking up the steps. Helga’s face immediately turns beet red and she avoids his eyes. Arnold gives him an embarrassed “Hey Grandpa”.

Phil lets out a chuckle and says, “Lovely morning for a walk.”

When they round the corner they look at each other and Arnold bursts out laughing. 

“I wish I could have seen the look on your face when you saw my grandpa up on the roof looking at you!” Arnold says.

“Oh sure, go ahead and laugh, it wasn’t funny!”

They reach Helga’s house now and quiet down. Helga gets her key out and very carefully opens the front door. Standing still for a moment they listen for any noises. Satisfied that the coast is clear she turns and gives Arnold a quick kiss. He mouths for her to call him later and she closes the door. Carefully she makes her way to her room. Once there she throws on some pajamas and climbs into bed, hopefully making it look like she’s been home all night. She shoots Phoebe a text telling her that if asked, she was at her house most of the night. She lays quietly and after a bit drifts off back to sleep. 

 

Part 2

 

She doesn’t wake again until almost 9:00. The smell of bacon wafts its’ way upstairs causing her stomach to grumble. Feeling a bit smug over the fact that she’s once again pulled one over on her parents she hums to herself as she heads to the kitchen.

She walks in to see Miriam sitting at the table reading the business section of the morning newspaper. A steaming mug of coffee sits in front of her with a plate of half eaten bacon and scrambled eggs next to it. She lowers the paper and spies Helga standing in the doorway.

“Good morning, dear. Would you like some breakfast?”

With another grumble of her stomach Helga walks to the table. “Boy would I, I’m starving!”

Miriam walks over to the stove where an already made up plate is warming in the oven. Using an oven mitt she takes the plate to the table and places it in front of Helga. She pours her some orange juice then sits back down before the inquisition begins.

“So, Helga, you have a good day yesterday?”

Her attention mostly on her breakfast Helga gives a halfhearted, “Yeah, I guess. It was nothing out of the ordinary.”

“What did you do that kept you busy all day into the evening?”

A small flag goes up in the back of Helga’s mind and she takes more interest in the conversation now.

“Oh, the usual stuff. The gang all got together for a game of ball in the old empty field, remember, I came by here to get my mitt.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Miriam is watching Helga now which begins to make her antsy. “And after that?”

“Um, after that some of us went to Arnold’s. There was a party on the roof top so we had dinner then hung out, talking and stuff.” Helga is wishing she had texted Phoebe last night instead of waiting until morning now.

“I see,” Miriam starts to clear the table now as she speaks, “How long did you all talk….and stuff?”

“Uhh, not too long. After a while Phoebe and I got tired of hanging around and decided to, um, go to her house. We hung out talking and lost track of time.” Helga absentmindedly tears at a napkin ripping it to shreds while making a mental note to remember what she’s saying so she can fill Phoebe in on the details when she gets back to her room.

“What time did you finally make it back home?” Miriam is looking Helga straight in the eyes now.

“Ohhh, pretty late, I think it was like, um 2 am. I know that’s really late and I’m really………”

Helga’s mom puts up a hand to stop her. “Now Helga, lets’ be honest here, shall we? I know you weren’t home at 2:00 because I got up at 3:30 and when I went to check on you, you weren’t home yet. So start again, and this time tell me the truth.”

Helga swallows and wonders if Big Bob knows any of this too. She takes a deep breath and confesses to her mom.

“Ok, I wasn’t at Phoebe’s. The rest is true, though, we did play baseball and we did have dinner at the boarding house. We also hung out talking for a while, umm, until everyone left. Then it was just me, Arnold and Gerald and Phoebe. After a bit they left and it was just me and Arnold.”

“And you stayed up just talking until almost 4 am?”

“Well, um, yeah, sort of.”

Miriam gets up and pours herself another mug of coffee then comes around the table to sit next to Helga. She smooths down some stray hairs that stick out around Helga’s head then takes her hand and gives her what Helga thinks has to be the most motherly look that she’s ever seen on Miriam’s face.

“Helga, I’m going to be straight with you. I know this is pretty late in the game for me to start trying to be all Mother of the Year to you, and I know that things are the way they are because of it. You’ve had to pretty much grow up on your own making your own decisions as to what’s right and what’s wrong. If I had been there for you from the beginning then I might feel like I’d have the right to tell you what to do and not to do in respects to you and Arnold, but I wasn’t so I don’t think I’ve earned the right to do so now.”

Helga realizes how hard it must be for her mom to own up to her shortcomings and she for once sees a strength in her that she never knew was there. She continues to sit quietly as her mom continues.

“This is why I’m not going to get all up in your face about what the two of you are doing.”

It embarrasses Helga to be sitting there talking about her sex life with her mother but at the same time she feels like she finally has someone besides Phoebe she can come to for support and advice now.

“I am, though, going to assume you are being smart and responsible.”

Helga rolls her eyes as her face turns one shade redder. “Yes, mom, don’t worry, I have it under control.”

“Good. Oh, and one more thing. Just because I feel this way doesn’t necessarily mean your father does. I will keep your confidence but it’s up to you to decide when and if you want to cross that bridge with him. Just do me one favor. I have a cell phone. Please use it the next time you’re going to be out like last night so I don’t worry, okay?”

Helga gets up and gives her mom a hug and a kiss on her cheek.

“Okay, I will, I promise. As far as dad though. I want him to like Arnold so I don’t think I’ll be talking to him any time soon about this. I’m almost an adult now and there’s just certain things he doesn’t need to know.”

“Agreed!” Miriam says as she finally changes the subject. “I was wondering, if you haven’t any other plans for the day how about I make good on that offer to buy you a whole new senior year wardrobe? The start of school is only a week away you know.”

Helga thinks that’s a great idea. “No, I haven’t made any plans for the day, I’d love that!”

 

Part 3

 

Growing up Helga always felt like a jigsaw puzzle with pieces missing, making it so she could never really feel complete. When Arnold told her that he loved her it was like finding one of the missing pieces and placing it into its matching spot. It was a perfect fit. By mending things with her mother, another of those empty spots was filled. There were still pieces missing here and there which, hopefully, in time would be filled but for now she was genuinely happy and actually looking forward to spending time with her mom. 

Running upstairs she grabs her phone and shoots Arnold a text.

Me: Hi, I miss you! Gonna be spending the day at the mall with Miriam. We had a   
Long talk this morning. Ya know, I think things are going to be good between us. I’ll   
Call you later. I love you more than life itself!!!

Arnoldo: That’s good to hear about your mom. Do you have to spend ALL day with her? I’ll   
Miss you. I love you more!

 

She jumps in the shower giving herself a quick wash down then hurries to her room throwing on an old pair of capris and a faded tank top. She slips into her old yet very comfortable high tops, throws her hair in a bun and shoves her cell phone in her pocket. 

Her mom is ready and waiting when she gets downstairs. They pile in her mom’s car and head off towards the mall. After a few minutes a text comes in from Phoebe.

Phoebe: How’d everything go last night? You make it home okay or do you need a cover?

Me: Everything’s fine, Miriam found me out but it’s actually okay. I’ll explain later. 

They get to the mall and it’s filled with back to school shoppers.

“Ugh, this is why I hate the mall so much.” Helga says as she looks at all the people bustling around.

“Oh well, Helga, we’re not in any hurry so lets’ just take our time and enjoy the day.”

And so they go from store to store, looking for bargains and clothes Helga can actually stand. Her taste is simple and not at all like most other high school girls’. Miriam keeps trying to get her to look at dresses much to Helga’s dismay.

She holds up a particularly feminine purple thing with flowers or butterflies or some such design and Helga snorts derisively. “You have GOT to be kidding!”

“Oh come on now Helga, it’s pretty and just look at the cute dragonflies.”

“Is that what those are supposed to be? I think I’ll pass.”

As time passes the two decide they need a break so they head for the food court. Helga leads Miriam to her favorite pizza stand and after they get their food they settle at a corner table and take inventory of Helga’s new wardrobe.

It was a pretty good haul for an afternoon of shopping. Four pairs of jeans, two pair of shorts (one blue jean and one pink denim), six tops (four pink, two black), a new pair of high tops (pink), a few bras, a variety of panties and a new pink bikini that she could have used at the beginning of the summer. 

By her mother’s insistence she agreed to one dress and a skirt and blouse. “What if Arnold wants to take you out somewhere nicer than Big Al’s Cafe? You’re going to need something to wear, right? Besides, I think he might like seeing you in something other than jeans every once in awhile.” 

After the mall Miriam talked Helga in to the both of them getting their hair done. She encouraged Helga to step out of her comfort zone and try something different. Helga never really cared much about her hair, she was happy to just wear it straight and tied up but she decided to compromise so she agreed to a trim so it falls a few inches past her shoulders, with just a few strips of light pink highlights running through it. 

She was surprised at how much she actually liked it and was curious as to what Arnold’s reaction would be. 

As they drove home they talked about the upcoming Labor Day picnic that’s held at City Park every year. Helga commented on how fast the summer went and Miriam asked her if she’s given much thought as to what college she thought she’d be attending after graduation. 

At the mention of college Helga just sat and stared quietly out the car’s window. She wasn’t ready to think about what going to college would mean to her and Arnold. She had finally gotten the only person she knew she’d ever love after years of longing and she wasn’t yet ready to think about the inevitable separation college would bring.


	18. Chapter 18

Part 1

 

Helga was in her room sorting through her new clothes when her cell phone started ringing. She knew by the ringtone that it was Arnold and remembered she had told him she would call. She plopped herself down on her bed as she answered the phone.

“Hey sexy. You miss me?”

She hears him chuckle on the other end. “You know it, but not as much as you miss me.”

“In your dreams Hair Boy.”

“How was your day with your mom? You have fun?”

“Yeah, it was actually a good day.” 

She proceeded to tell him everything that went on starting with their talk at breakfast and ending with the drive home. She purposely left out the part about getting her hair colored, she wanted to see the look of surprise on his face when he first sees it.

“That sounds like a great day. Um, some of the gang’s getting together for some dinner then a movie tonight. I hope you don’t mind, but I told them we’d be there.”

She thought about it for a minute then said “If it means spending time with you then I’m in.”

“Great! I’ll pick you up at 5:30. Love you!”

“Ok, see you then. Love you more!”

She gets up and looks at herself in her full length mirror. She wonders if her mom was right. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to dress a little nicer once in a while. She walks over to her bed and fishes out the skirt and top she had bought and put them on. 

She turns from side to side checking out her reflection and decides she doesn’t look half bad. The skirt is made of a soft pink leather that hugs her curves. It’s long enough to still cover her when she bends over but short enough to show off her long legs. The top is a clingy pink midriff made from a soft knit with a scooped neck line and short sleeves. 

She decides that if she’s going to go to the trouble of wearing a skirt she might as well go all the way and heads to the bathroom to put on some make-up too. She keeps it light, a bit of eye shadow, some mascara and a touch of blush on her cheeks. She moves on to her hair, pulling the sides up she holds them in place at the back of her head with a clip. Instead of leaving it straight as usual she curls it into long ringlets then runs her fingers through them spreading them out creating a soft wave. The pink highlights blend nicely with her sun bleached hair. 

She walks back to her bedroom and studies herself one last time. The look is good, but there’s something missing. Walking to her dresser she pulls out the old pink bow she used to wear. It’s been a while since she last wore it and it feels good to have it sitting on her head once again. Her memory drifts back to the first time she met Arnold and how he told her how much he liked her bow. Her mind settles there until the front door bell brings her back to reality. She hears Arnold’s voice and grabs a small purse and heads downstairs.

Arnold is engaged in uncomfortable conversation with Big Bob when he sees Helga coming down the stairs. He stands there stunned, unable to take his eyes off of her. 

He stumbles over his words as he tries to greet her. “Hi – I, uh, you – you look so – beautiful.”

Bob’s not liking the look in Arnold’s eyes as he stares at his daughter and starts to say something. Seeing this Miriam speaks up first as she ushers the two out the door.

“You kids go on and have fun now. Don’t stay out too late.” Looking directly at Helga she says, “If you need anything we’re just a phone call away.”

Helga gets the message and leads Arnold out the door to his car.

Arnold finally finds his voice as they take off for the restaurant. “You look so good, what’s the occasion?”

“No reason, I just thought it might be nice to be a little dressy for once. So I take it you like it.”

“Uh, yeah I like it. I like your hair too. The pink suits you. Hey, your bow! You’re wearing your old bow.”

Her hand reaches up to touch the bow. “Oh, yeah, I felt it completed the outfit.”

“I’ve always liked that bow. I was kind of sad when you stopped wearing it. Why did you stop wearing it anyway?”

She thinks for a minute trying to figure out just how much she wants him to know about her and the bow.

“Well, you don’t know this, but, when we first met in preschool you told me how much you liked my bow. It was one of the first kind things anyone’s ever said to me. So from that time on I made a silent vow to always wear it for you.”

Arnold was touched by this and smiled as he remembered their first meeting. “But you did stop eventually, why?”

“Wow, this is hard. Okay, here it goes. You know now that I’ve had feelings for you for years. Well when I turned around thirteen or so and we still weren’t together I sort of figured it was never going to happen so I just stopped wearing it. I mean, it had been ten years by then. I stashed it away in my dresser drawer and there it sat until tonight.”

They sit quietly for a minute or two before Arnold breaks the silence.

“In every picture, and every memory from back in our PS 118 days that bow is always front and center in my mind. It always reminded me of that softer side of you that was always kept hidden. Promise me something?”

“Um, okay, I’ll try. What is it?”

“Promise me you’ll go back to always wearing a pink bow. As a symbol of our love, it’ll be just between the two of us.”

She likes the idea of only the two them now knowing the new symbolism the pink bow holds.

“Ok, I can do that.”

They arrive at the diner, late, as usual, with everyone commenting on Helga’s new look. Phoebe notices the bow in Helga’s hair and smiles. Stinky comments that Arnold must be a good influence on her and Rhonda feels that it’s about time Helga started acting more like a girl and less like a tomboy. 

 

Part 2

As the group waits for their dinners to arrive the topic of the big Labor Day picnic comes up. 

“I’m oh so certain everyone will be there this Saturday, right?” Lila questions the group.

Gerald takes the liberty of speaking for everyone. “Of course, it’s tradition. I don’t think anyone’s ever missed one yet.”

The friends look to each other, each one agreeing with Gerald.

“Well, I just can’t wait for the pie eating contest this year!” Harold says as he rubs his stomach. 

“Wilikers Harold, that’s what you say every year.” Stinky comments.

“Yeah, and I’ve won the last four years in a row, too!” Harold is somewhat proud of this accomplishment. 

“I’m looking forward to the rides, I just love the Tilt-a-Whirl!” Sid says as he makes a revolving motion with his finger.

“Ugh,” Rhonda says with a fake gag, “Those rides make me hurl. I much prefer something simple like the Merry-go-Round.”

At Rhonda’s mention of the Merry-go-Round both Helga and Arnold think back to that stolen kiss when they visited the closed down carnival and got thrown out by the security guard. Arnold gives Helga a small smile as her cheeks turn a faint pink. 

After a bit the topic of school comes up. Their schedules had come in the mail earlier that week and Helga was disappointed to find out that she and Arnold only shared one class this year, but they did have the same lunch break so the year wasn’t going to be a total loss. 

“Well I plan on running for senior class president this year. It’s a family tradition so I’m counting on each of your votes.” Rhonda was adamant about this and the group knew better than to argue with her over it.

“I wonder who’ll be prom queen this year.” Sheena said with a far off gaze in her eyes. 

“Ugh! Prom queen. What a waste of time.” Helga snorts. “That’s nothing more than a big old popularity contest and who cares about being crowned ‘Miss Popular’.”

“Aww, Helga, you don’t care about it because you’re nothing but a big old tomboy.” Harold mocked.

A bit perturbed at Harold Arnold glares at him, “Well, she’s MY big old tomboy and I say she’s beautiful enough to beat out any of the other girls.”

Intrigued now Rhonda asks, “Sooo, is that a challenge? Are you throwing your hat in the ring this year Helga?”

“What!” Helga cries out, a bit shocked, “Ohhhh hell no! There’s no way you’ll ever see me going out for prom queen.” She gives Arnold a glare for even mentioning it and he slinks down in his chair knowing he had just made a big mistake.

Rhonda makes a mental note to sign Helga up without her knowing it come spring. 

The rest of dinner is spent in less controversial discussions until it’s time to leave for the movies.

Arriving at the theatre the girls wanted to see the newest romance movie but the guys complained that it was too “chick flicky”. The girls put their foot down saying they would absolutely not watch the newest psycho killer movie so they settled for a re-release of “The Hangover” thinking a good, old comedy was the perfect end of summer movie. 

Even though it was an older movie, the jokes were still funny and by the end everyone was laughing and having a great time.

It was getting late by the time the movie ended so Arnold and Helga said their good nights and headed to her house. Once they arrived Helga invited Arnold in to watch some TV for a bit.

Arnold ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know, Helga. Your dad’s in there and I’m still not sure he’s totally okay with me.”

“Well, you can’t stay away forever, and besides, it’s a work night for him. He’s probably already asleep.”

Against his better judgement Arnold agrees to come in for a few minutes. When they get inside they discover that Helga was right and both her parents had already gone upstairs to bed. They settle down on the couch, the only light coming from the TV. After flipping through about 100 channels they settle on an old Twilight Zone rerun. 

Helga leans in close to Arnold as he wraps an arm around her shoulders. Leaning his head against hers the smell of her shampoo starts to intoxicate him. He starts nibbling on her ear making her giggle. He turns her face towards him and places his lips on hers. Gentle at first but once he parts her lips with his tongue the kiss turns deep and full of fire. She throws her arms around his neck as one of his hands creeps up under the front of her top. 

The passion starts to rise until they hear footsteps coming down the hallway. They break apart, staring at the TV just as Big Bob shows up in the doorway.

“I thought I heard noise coming from down here.” Bob grumbles.

Trying to keep her breathing steady Helga swallows then speaks up. “Yep, it’s just us. Just sitting here watching a little TV before Arnold leaves.”

“Ok,” Bob answers as he glares at Arnold. “Just don’t stay too late.”

After Bob’s made his way back upstairs the pair break out in laughter.

“Shhhh,” Helga says placing a finger to her lips. “You don’t want him to come back down again do you?”

They sit quietly together until the end of the episode when Arnold gets up to leave. Helga walks him to the door where they embrace.

“I had a great time tonight, well except for that whole prom queen thing at dinner. You don’t think Rhonda would do anything stupid do you?” Helga asks.

“When it comes to Rhonda your guess is as good as mine. But I still say you’d take the crown easily.”

“Heh, you just want to be able to someday tell your children that you dated a prom queen.”

Arnold looks her in the eye and says, “OUR children, and you’re right, it’s all very selfish of me.”

After they finish saying their good nights Helga walks up the stairs to her room wondering just how many children she and Arnold should have.

 

Part 3

 

Saturday had finally come, the day of Hillwood’s big Labor Day picnic. It was a tradition that went back further than even Helga’s parents could remember. It was a quaint, small town ordeal with a real old fashioned feel. There were contests for things like best apple pie or fanciest cake. There was a quilting contest and a pie eating contest. There were competitive games like sack races and three legged races. There were game booths and carnival rides. Food stands and even a stage for local bands to show off their talent. Everything was decked out in red, white and blue. Standing sentinel over it all was a huge Ferris wheel that, when sitting at its peak, you could look out over the downtown area to the ocean that lay past it. 

The gang had agreed to meet at the big tree at noon and Arnold sat impatiently in the Pataki’s living room waiting for her under the hard stare of Big Bob. Miriam saw how nervous his stare was making Arnold so she nudged Bob hard in the side and gave him a “be nice” look. Clearing his throat Bob did the best he could.

“So,” he starts, not really knowing what to say. “You guys are headed to the picnic, huh?”

Hating having to go through this Arnold also tries to be cordial. “Uh, yeah, the whole gangs meeting up.”

Bob rubs the back of his neck searching for something else to say to fill the void. “The Misses and I will be heading out later once the weather cools down a bit. Maybe we’ll see you there.”

Hoping that doesn’t happen Arnold smiles and says, “Yeah, that would be great.”

Arnold was saved from further torture when Helga finally came running down the stairs. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to keep you waiting so long.” She said as she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the door.

“You two have fun, look for us later tonight!” Miriam said as the door slammed shut.

Arnold gave Helga a frustrated look. “I’m really getting tired of you always leave me standing there having to make small talk with your dad.”

“Aw, buck up Arnoldo, it’s good for you. Like I keep saying, you two need to come to grips with each other eventually you know.”

Giving up Arnold drives off with Helga in her usual spot, cuddled up next to him, her seatbelt lays forgotten besides her. They stop off at Phoebe’s house to pick up her and Gerald before heading to the park.

As the two slide into the backseat and buckle up Phoebe can’t help but comment to Helga. “You know, you really should wear your seatbelt, Helga. What if there should be an accident.”

Helga brushes off the comment explaining for the millionth time how the seatbelt prevents her from properly cuddling up next to Arnold and once again the subject is dropped.

They pull into the parking lot and are lucky that they are early enough to get one of the few spots left in the crowded lot. 

They head for the front entrance to the park and find their friends shortly afterwards.

“It’s about time you guys got here.” Rhonda says as the four stragglers walk up.

“Blame Helga, she’s the one that always keeps me waiting.” Arnold says, relieving himself of any guilt.

Helga ignores the comment as she notices Harold is missing. “Where’s Pink Boy? It’s not like him to miss a picnic.”

“Well,” Rhonda answers, “if you had gotten here on time you would know that he went to get ready for the pie eating contest. If you were much later you would have missed it.”

Arnold could see the annoyance start to build up on Helga’s face and he steps in to diffuse the potential explosion. “Well, then I guess we should get going before we miss the start of the contest. 

The gang heads for the stage where a long table is set up. There are twelve contestants sitting down with a homemade blueberry pie sitting in front of them. They spot Harold sitting off to one end. He has a napkin tied around his neck to protect his shirt and is staring at the pie like it was some sort of long lost love.

Sid yells out to Harold getting his attention. “Hey Harold! Don’t choke on a stray blueberry!”

The gang laughs as Harold yells back. “Awww, you’ll see, I’m gonna make this my fifth win in a row!”

The announcer counts down the last few seconds and at the sound of the bell the twelve contestants plunge face first into their pies. Harold’s face disappears for a good ten seconds and as he comes up for air the pie filling sits on his face like one of Rhonda’s expensive facial masks. Taking a breath he dives in once again to finish his pie. It’s a close race between him and Wolfgang who is sitting at the other end of the table but Harold is just seconds faster as he stands up, face plastered in blueberries, arms raised above his head in victory. 

“We have a winner!” The announcer yells as he holds up Harold’s empty pie pan. The crowd cheers for him as he is handed a blue, first place ribbon. He pins it on his shirt proudly but the real feeling of accomplishment will come later when they engrave his name for the fifth time in a row on the winner’s plaque that hangs on the rec center wall for all to see.

After Harold cleans up and joins them the gang moves on to the midway to play some games. Arnold spies the ring toss and pulls Helga along with him towards it. 

“Look, Helga, the ring toss. Now I can win you a real bear.” Arnold says as he fishes a couple of dollar bills out of his pocket.

“Good luck Arnoldo, you know these games are rigged.”

“Aw, have faith, Helga, this will be a snap.”

Ten dollars and twenty minutes of frustration later Arnold finally gives up as he’s handed a small consolation prize. It’s a small teddy bear, no more than six inches tall. He hands it to her with an embarrassed smile.

“Well, at least it’s pink.” He says.

She takes it, telling him she’ll treasure it forever.

And so the day goes on with the friends playing games and riding rides. Sid actually talked Rhonda into riding the Tilt-a-Whirl and to her surprise she didn’t throw up on him. 

It is evening now, and the atmosphere takes on a more surreal feel as the rides bathe everything in their neon glow. Strings of white lights line the game booths as the warm breeze carries the varied smells from the concession stands through the park. It’s almost time for the big fireworks show that marks the close of the picnic. People start milling their way towards the outdoor arena to take their seats either in the stands or on blankets on the grass.

Helga and Arnold start to join the crowd when Gerald motions for them to hold up. 

“Come on,’ He says, “I have a better idea as to where to watch the fireworks.”

He leads them towards the far end of the park and they immediately know where they’re going. 

It’s another of the group’s little hidden spots, similar to the tucked away beach at the river. This, however, is small, grassy knoll at the top of a small trail that breaks off from the main path. The full moon hangs low enough in the night sky to illuminate their way, the path vanishes here and there, darkened by moon shadows cast by the occasional bush that gets in the light’s way. 

Reaching the top of the path they are pleased to find that no one else had thought to come up there. They make their way to the other side of the hill and sit down in the cool grass looking down at the park beneath them. The scene is lit up by the various lights that outline each ride. The air carries the sounds of the midway to them. They hear the calliope music that is cast out by the merry-go-round, broken up every now and then by the barkers as they do their best to entice just a few more dollars from their chosen marks. 

The four friends sit taking it all in, comfortable in each other’s company. It’s Gerald who speaks first.

“Man, it sure has been one crazy summer.”

The other three friends nod in agreement, then Arnold says, “If you ask me, after all things considered this has been the best summer of my life.”

Helga looks at him wide eyed. “How can you say that! You almost died after your appendix burst, remember Arnoldo?”

He looks at her, brushing some hair back over one of her ears. “Yeah, but think about it, because of that we’re now together and that’s all that matters.”

Gerald chuckles. “Ha, yeah, Helga, look at the lengths my man here went to just to finally get with you.”

Phoebe gives Gerald a punch in his shoulder. “Babe! That’s not funny. Besides, I’ve always had faith that these guys would get together eventually.”

“Well, whatever the case, we’re together which makes this the best summer of my life.” Arnold declares as he pulls Helga towards him and gives her a long kiss.

“Dude,” Gerald remarks, “How many times do I have to tell you guys to get a room already!”

Helga looks at Gerald and gives him a warm smile. “The thing that amazed me the most this summer was finding out that you’re not as big a jerk as I’ve always thought.”

Gerald puffs out his chest and says, “Yeah, my charisma always affects the ladies like that sooner or later.” 

Helga rolls her eyes, “Oh brother.”

“So,” Phoebe says changing the subject, “two more days of summer then school starts. Our last year.”

No one’s wanted to broach that subject but they knew they would have to face it sooner or later. 

“It’s not fair,” Helga softly speaks, looking into Arnold’s eyes, “just when we are finally together we have to start making plans to be apart. I’m almost tempted to forego college so we can stay together.”

“You’ll do no such thing!” Arnold says to her. “You have a promising future in writing I’m not going to let you throw away your goals because of me. Besides, what’s four years? I’ve already vowed to you that we will always be together and nothing will change that.”

Helga knows that he means what he says, but she also knows, no, all four of them know that time and distance can change things, but they leave that unspoken. Each couple will just need to have faith that the love they feel for each other now is strong enough to weather whatever lies ahead. 

“Let’s make a pact.” Helga says, “Lets vow that no matter what happens after high school, we will always remain friends and that for as long as Hillwood holds this cheesy, small town picnic we will always come back to it and meet up right here, just the four of us.” She looks to her friends, “and who knows, maybe even one year bring our kids.”

Promises are made as the first of the fireworks explodes in the sky. The two couples sit, each pair huddled together in their own little world, hearts overflowing with young love content in their vows to always be together.


	19. Epilogue

Ten years have passed since that night on the hill when the four friends made their vows to always return to this same spot for the Hillwood Labor Day picnic. For the first four years all four of them found it an easy promise to keep. As time went on, though it became harder for all four to gather at the same time. Sometimes there would only be three, sometimes two, but always someone would show even if it was just one. 

On this particular day, though, the hill stood empty with no one arriving to keep that solemn vow. Instead on this day fate found them gathered in the local hospital. The same hospital that ten years earlier Arnold lay near death as the one true love of his life sat sentinel over his still body wishing him to come back from the abyss he had fallen in to. 

Today it is her turn to say no to that silent reaper as it waits in the doorway eager to grab the precious life essence as it leaves her body. But she is strong and will not let death have its way today so she hangs on, holding the hand of her lover, her friend, her husband. 

“Helga!” Arnold yells as her eyes start to close, “Stay with us, you can do this!”

She gazes up through half closed eyelids and gives him her best attempt at a smile.

“It’s no use,” the doctor says, “She’s losing too much blood. We’re going to have to go in.”

Arnold looks desperately from the doctor to Helga. “Please, doctor, do what you have to. I can’t lose them.”

In the waiting room a small band of friends gather to await any news of what’s happening. Arnold’s grandmother stands supported by Miriam, wishing her husband could be there. Unfortunately the small family lost Phil about two years ago. It was a devastation to the neighborhood but at nearly 100 years old no one could say that he didn’t live a long, happy life.

Helga’s father paces the room, jumping on every orderly that should happen to walk by demanding to know what’s going on with his daughter. 

Phoebe stands next to her husband and begins to feel a bit dizzy. Wavering she places her hand on her belly which swells out in front of her with their twins as Gerald helps her to her seat. 

After an eternity Arnold finally walks into the waiting room. His face shows the long hours that have been spent in worry over his wife’s fragile state. Miriam runs up to him with an anxious look on her face.

“Well?” she says, desperate for information. “How is she?”

Arnold looks at the group and finally smiles. She’s fine, she lost a lot of blood but she’s okay.”

A collective sigh of relief can be heard through the group as they all relax. 

“And the baby?” Phoebe asks, bringing everyone back to the whole reason they’re in the hospital in the first place.

“She’s as beautiful as her mother.” Arnold says with love in his eyes. “Come with me and see.”

He leads the group through the maternity wing to the nursery window. He tells them to wait there as he goes inside. After going through the routine of washing up and putting on a fresh gown and mask he walks over to where his baby girl sleeps.

Although his face is covered by the mask he wears you can see the joy in his green eyes as he picks up his daughter. She is tiny in his arms, with light blonde hair that covers a head that is just a bit wider than normal. This fact being the reason for Helga’s cesarean. 

He talks through a speaker as he presents his child to the group.

“I present to you, Stella Phyllis Shortman.”

The small crowd cheers, causing looks of consternation from the nearby nurse’s station.

The group wishes to see Helga but she is sleeping off the ordeal of the C-section so they agree to give her the one night before coming back in the morning. 

A few hours later Arnold sits at the edge of Helga’s bed as she breast feeds their child. He watches mother and daughter and thinks he’s the luckiest man alive.

She looks up to him with a smile that goes from ear to ear. 

He bends down towards her, kissing her deeply. “I love you sooo much Mrs. Shortman.”

She kisses him back and says, “I love you more, Arnoldo.”

 

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you enjoyed this little tale. If so, I would like to invite you to read some of my other works and let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is always appreciated. :)


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